Cosmological argument: arguments
- Created by: elliethornton11
- Created on: 22-09-21 18:45
View mindmap
- Arguments
- Leibniz' principle of sufficient reason
- 'There must be a sufficient reason or cause explaining why things are as they are and not otherwise.'
- Thomas Aquinas
- Aquinas' argument from motion (1st Way)
- 1. in the universe there are things in motion or change
- 2. nothing can move or change itself
- in Plato's terms everything is a secondary mover
- 3. imagine if everything were a secondary mover - there would be an infinite regress of movers
- 4. (Reductio ad absurdum)
- if 3 were true then there would be no prime mover and hence no subsequent movers. but this is false
- 5. conclusion: there must be an unmoved prime mover whom we call God
- the source of all motion / change
- Aquinas' argument from causation (2nd Way)
- 1. in the universe, we find things which are caused to exist
- 2. nothing can cause itself to exist
- 3. imagine everything were caused to exist - there would be an infinite regress of causes
- 4. (Reductio ad absurdum)
- if 3 were true then there would be no first cause and hence no subsequent causes
- 5. conclusion: there must be an uncaused first cause whom we call God
- the source of all causation
- Aquinas' argument from contingency (3rd Way)
- 1. there are beings in the universe which are contingent
- 2. if everything were contingent then there was a time when everything ceased to exist and there was nothing
- 3. since nothing can come from nothing, there would not be anything new
- 4. however, since this is not the case, there must be a necessary being which continued to exist
- 5. either this necessary being has cause in itself or has its cause out of itself
- 6. if it has its cause out of itself, the cause of that necessary being may be in or out of itself
- 7. this cannot go back for infinity
- therefore there must be one necessary being which sustains existence of all other beings
- Aquinas' argument from motion (1st Way)
- Descartes' cosmological argument
- 1. both my idea of God and my continuing existence need explaining
- 2. I cannot be the cause of my idea of God as I am finite and an imperfect being
- 3. therefore the cause of my ideas of God (as a perfect being) must lit outside of myself
- 4. I cannot bring about my continuing existence as I am contingent
- 5. therefore my idea of God and my continuing existence must lay outside of myself
- 6. the chain of my cause and effect cannot go back for eternity
- 7. therefore the ultimate cause of my idea of God and my continuing existence must be perfect
- 8. the cause is God
- Leibniz' principle of sufficient reason
Comments
No comments have yet been made