The Cosmological Argument

• Philosophical argument in favour of the existence of God.
• It is an a posteriori argument
• An a posteriori argument is an argument that is based on experience or observation of the world around us and how it works.
• The cosmological argument is an inductive argument
• an inductive argument is a type of argument that aims to persuade us of a case, rather than to prove it.
• Due to the cosmological argument not being a deductive argument, it cannot prove its conclusion, rather only persuade us that its conclusion is reasonable.
• A priori arguments are those which rely solely upon reason and logic, without any reference to empirical evidence
• The conclusion that the cosmological argument wants us to accept is that the cause of the universe is what we call God.
• the word cosmological is a derivative of the word cosmos, meaning universe.
• The cosmological argument is based on searching for an answer to the question why their is a universe at all, rather than just nothing.
• The cosmological argument is based on the idea of causation (The Law of Cause and Effect)
• Assuming evolution to be true we can get back to what scientists believe is the first known event in the universe, the Big Bang.

  What caused the Big Bang?
• The cosmological argument says that if we reject the idea of infinite regress, we must accept that the chain of events cannot go on forever.
• infinite regression is the idea that the universe has always existed.

  The cosmological argument rejects this.
• The cosmological argument says that there must be a first cause that is not part of the universe.
• The Cosmo,logical argument says that if the cause of the universe is Independant from the world, then it must be:

  1. not physical
  2. non bound by time
  3. not caused
• 1. if something is not physical we call it spiritual.
  2. if something is not bound by time we call it eternal.
  3. if something is not caused we call it necessary.

  most people would call something that is spiritual, eternal and necessary God.
• One of the best known forms of the cosmological argument was written by 13th Century Monk, Thomas Aquinas.
• Aquinas was a prolific writer and he wrote over 300 books, but his most well known work was called Suma Theologica.
• Thomas Aquinas wrote the five ways in Summa Theologica
• Aquinas‘ five ways were five demonstrations of the rationality of the belief in God.
• Aquinas’ first three ways were all different variations of the cosmological arguments, these were:

  1. Motion
  2. Cause
  3. Contingency
• If something is contingent, it means that its existence is dependant on something else.
• Aquinas’ first three ways argue that there are things in the world that are either in

  1. in motion
  2. caused
  3. contingent
• Aquinas said that these things require something else to

  1. move
  2. cause
  3. create

  this chain cannot go on forever
• Because the chain cannot go on forever, Aquinas said that there must exist

  1. unmoved mover
  2. uncaused cause
  3. uncreated being

  This must be God.
• The Cosmological argument says that

  1. Everything that exists has a cause.
  2. The universe exists
  3. The universe has a cause
  4. The cause is God
• The problem with the Cosmological argument is that if everything has a cause, what caused God?
• William Lane Craig wrote the Kalam Cosmological Argument
• The Kalam Argument said that the criticism of who made God had a simple solution, it modified the argument to say

  1. everything that BEGINS TO exist has a cause.
  2. The universe BEGAN TO exist

  This is supported by the Big Bang Theory