The Cosmological Argument
- Created by: Astraea_Blackwood
- Created on: 29-04-20 11:13
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- The Cosmological Argument
- Aquinas
- Believed the world around us provided evidence for God's Existence
- Set out five ways from this evidence to prove the existence of God - First three are cosmological
- The First Way- Argument from Motion.
- The second way- Argument from causation.
- Everything in the world has a cause. There cannot be an infinite chain of causes. There had to be something right at the start (a first cause) to start a chain of causes, a being that was not caused by anything else to exist. This uncaused cause is God.
- The Third Way- The argument from Contingency.
- Everything in the universe is contingent - dependent on something else to exist. Experience teaches that something cannot come from nothing. Therefore a contingent being or object cannot exist without a necessary being causing its existence. This being is therefore said to have a necessary existence- the world would not exist without it. This being is God
- Kalam Argument
- Everything that has a beginning if its existence has a cause of its existence.
- The universe has a beginning therefore has a cause
- If the universe has a cause of its existence then that cause is God therefore God Exists
- Hume's Criticisms of Aquinas
- If we can explain the causes of individual things we needn't explain the cause of the entire universe.
- Argument for causation is foolish as humans can easily incorreThe ctly assume the cause of something
- The universe may be on a state of permanent regress so an uncaused cause is not required.
- If it does prove the existence of an uncaused cause it doensnt prove the existence of an all powerful, loving and infinite God
- Criticisms from scholars.
- Kant - God and the universe are beyond what humans can observe and understand
- J.L. Mackie - No proof that it is the God of Christianity or even a God at all.
- Bertrand Russel- If all things in the universe are contingent, then we cannot reasonably claim that God is not contingent
- Richard Dawkins- Postulating God as the first cause is an unnecessarily complicated step. Ockhams razor - the simplest explaination for the existence of the universe is the universe itself
- Richard Gale- Everything in the universe has a cause but God doesn't - Illogical.
- Anthony Kenny- The concept of motion is flawed. People and animals have the ability to move themselves.
- What is the Cosmological Argument?
- It is an argument which attempts to prove the existence of God
- A posteriori - Based on what we can see in the world and universe
- Strengths and Weaknesses
- Strengths
- Science supports a finite universe.
- As we are constantly adding events to time, time cannot be infinite as you cannot add to infinity
- We do see movement and cause
- It leads to a logical conclusion
- It answers the question- 'why is there something rather than nothing?'
- It leads to a logical conclusion
- We do see movement and cause
- As we are constantly adding events to time, time cannot be infinite as you cannot add to infinity
- Science supports a finite universe.
- Weaknesses
- Not necessarily the christian God
- What if the universe has simply always existed
- Contradictory- everything has a cause but God doesn't
- Fallacy of composition- It assumes that because each part of the universe was caused, that the universe as a whole was caused
- There is no reason why the chain of cause and effect cannot be infinite
- Causation could be an illusion
- Principle of entropy and theory of evolution disprove it
- Causation could be an illusion
- There is no reason why the chain of cause and effect cannot be infinite
- Fallacy of composition- It assumes that because each part of the universe was caused, that the universe as a whole was caused
- Contradictory- everything has a cause but God doesn't
- What if the universe has simply always existed
- Not necessarily the christian God
- Strengths
- Leibniz
- Rejected idea of universe having infinite regress
- Principle of sufficient reason - everything must have a cause.
- Universe must have a first cause
- First cause= a being that is uncaused and not contingent
- First cause = God
- Aquinas
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