Cosmological argument: weaknesses
- Created by: elliethornton11
- Created on: 22-09-21 21:01
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- Arguments (continued)
- William Lane Craig's Kalam form
- 1. whatever begins to exist has a cause of its existence
- 2. the universe began to exist, ie the temporal regress of events is finite
- 3.therefore, the universe has a cause
- 4. also, this cause of the universe must be a personal cause, as scientific explanations cannot provide a casual account. this person cause is God
- William Lane Craig's Kalam form
- Weakness
- 1) Infinite regress requires no first cause
- Aquinas is incorrect: infinite regress is not just a long chain of events
- it goes back for infinity so there is no need for a first cause
- therefore case and effect can remain
- 2) Aquinas' argument from causation contradicts itself
- he claims 'nothing comes from nothing'
- yet God comes from nothing (first cause)
- 3) Hume's fallacy of composition
- there is an assumption that because everything in the universe has a cause, then the universe must also have a cause
- this is like saying if everyone in the human race has a mother, then the universe must have a mother
- if this is true the chain of cause and effect can stop at the universe and the universe would be the first cause
- hence there would be no need for God
- weaknesses 4, 5 & 6
- 4) Hume argues cause and effect is not a thing
- cause and effect does not exist but is a habit of the mind
- eg if a someone hits a white snooker ball, which then hits a green snooker ball, we do not know if the white ball was the cause of the green ball's movement
- since we never see causation there is no need to accept it as a concept
- therefore there is no cause and effect in the universe and so no need for a God
- 5) Imperfect beings can think of perfect things
- an imperfect being can think of something perfect by maximising things known from experience
- love becomes omnibenevolence
- knowledge becomes omniscience
- the universe can be sustained without a perfect being
- 6) J L Mackie's criticism of the argument from contingency
- Aquinas says all contingent things will cease to exist, this doesn't mean at the same time
- as one thing ceases too exist another could begin to exist
- a necessary being is unnecessary as things are self-sustaining
- 4) Hume argues cause and effect is not a thing
- 7) Bertrand Russell: everything which exists does not need a cause
- this undermines Aquinas' need for causes
- in quantum physics, quantum fluctuations refer to things appearing and disappearing in space without explanation
- the universe does not need an explanation it just is
- 8) The universe could be the first cause, prime movers or necessary being
- there is no need to find a cause of the universe
- Hume is an empiricist, so does not believe in metaphysical beings such as God
- the universe could be its own cause with no need for Go d
- 1) Infinite regress requires no first cause
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