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Considered one of the leading proponents of natural theology in the 20th century, E. L. Mascall (1905–1993) taught philosophy and theology at King’s College London for most of his career. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he insisted that classical theism, embodied in the writings of Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, could be successfully revived for a modern audience. Known for his vigorous defense of neo-Thomism, Mascall offered an unusual interpretation of The Five Ways. While modern scholastics typically read the proofs as syllogistic exercises, Mascall maintained that God’s existence could not be deduced from premises, but must be grasped by means of a unique type of “metaphysical intuition” which he called “contuition.” In my paper, I will re-examine his position, explore his reasons for adopting it, and finally raise several questions concerning its significance for the history of neo-Thomism.

With the concept of "state of nature" Rousseau builds up a hypothetical model of a phenomenon and then he draws its consequences for the present. The "hypothetical and conditional reasoning" does not want to enlighten the origin of things but to show its nature and in the same time to reproduce that sort of speech situation which allows to " judge" the status of the present time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]