1A Cosmological Argument

Question 1

Who put foreword the cosmological argument

Answer 1

St Thomas Aquinas

Question 2

what book did aquinas write

Answer 2

summa theologica

Question 3

who was aquinas’ book aimed at

Answer 3

theology students and believers

Question 4

what are inductive arguments

Answer 4

an assertion that uses specific premises or observations to make a broader generalisation

Question 5

what is an example of an inductive argument? why is it inductive?

Answer 5

‘I sneezed, therefore I have a cold’
it is reasonable to assume my sneeze is because of a cold; although there are many other possibilities that could have caused a sneeze.

Question 6

what does a posteriori mean

Answer 6

arrive to conclusions after evaluating empirical data

Question 7

what empirical data does the cosmological argument rely on

Answer 7

information from the cosmos and the pheonomena within it to come to its conclusions

Question 8

what did aquinas believe it was necessary to find out

Answer 8

how Aristotelian and Christian thought could be comparable; as well faith and reason could work together, so that people didn’t have to depend on doctrine faith seeking understanding

Question 9

out of revelation and reason what did aquinas believe was of higher merit and why

Answer 9

revelation was stronger because humans can make mistakes

Question 10

what was aquinas’ first way called

Answer 10

the unmoved mover

Question 11

how does aquinas define motion

Answer 11

‘The reduction of something from potentiality to actuality’.

Question 12

what does aquinas beleive about things being in motion? give a quote

Answer 12

everything is in a state of motion
‘whatever is in motion is put in motion by another’

Question 13

summarise aquinas’ first way

Answer 13

o The change in motion can only happen if something that possessed a state of actuality acted on that in a state of potentiality.
o If you trace the sequence back, there must be a starting point because it can’t infinitely regress
o The starting point must be outside the universe and must not have been moved by anything else.
o Aristotle called it the Prime Mover, but Aquinas called it that Unmoved Mover.
o ‘that which all men call God’

Question 14

what analogy did aquinas use to show his first way

Answer 14

wood
a piece of cold wood in the state of potentiality can change motion from being cold to hot (on fire) if acted upon by something in the state of actuality

Question 15

what was aquinas’ second way called

Answer 15

the uncaused causer

Question 16

when referring to the chain of causes what kind of series does it follow, according to aquinas

Answer 16

hierarchical series, not a temporal series

Question 17

what are the stages of causes

Answer 17

 First/efficient cause.
 Intermediate cause.
 Ultimate cause.

Question 18

what does aquinas’ second way focus more on compared to his first way?

Answer 18

cause and effect
concerns how things come into existence rather than how they change state and aquire different properties

Question 19

what does aquinas say about things being the efficient cause of itself

Answer 19

‘There is no case known, neither is it indeed possible, in which the thing that is found to be the efficient cause of itself.’

Question 20

sumarise aquinas’ second way

Answer 20

everything that exists has a cause, and that cause has its own cause
the cause of a child is its parents and the cause of the childs parents are their parents
the chain of causes cannot infinitely regress and there has to be an uncaused causer that caused everything
things cannot come into being ex nihlio
for aquinas the efficient cause of the universe is God

Question 21

what analogy does aquinas use for his second way

Answer 21

dominos
dominos do not fall unless the first one is pushed, causing a chain reaction of the rest falling

Question 22

what was aquinas; third way called

Answer 22

contingency and necessity

Question 23

what does contingency mean

Answer 23

Contingency means to be dependent on something else.

Question 24

what does necessity mean

Answer 24

something that is everlasting, permanent, or non-transitory

Question 25

in what two ways is everything contingent

Answer 25

Dependent on something else for their existence.
Dependent on something else for the continuation of their existence.

Question 26

summarise aquinas’ third way

Answer 26

If there was a time when there were no contingent beings, no contingent beings would exist today. Contingent beings cannot come ex nihlio, so there must be a necessary being that is not dependent on its own creation.
‘Some being having of itself its own necessity and not receiving it from another, but rather causing it in others their necessity.’
‘This all men speak of as God.’
God was not caused and does not depend on anything else to exist.

Question 27

what did aquinas note about his cosmological argument

Answer 27

it can prove the existence of God, not the God of classical theism and christianity

Question 28

what two scholars were involved in the kalam arguement

Answer 28

Al-kindi and Al-Ghazali.

Question 29

what did the kalam argument state

Answer 29

(i) Whatever begins to exist has a cause of its existence
(ii) The universe began to exist
(iii) Therefore, the universe has a cause of its existence.

Question 30

who was william lane craig

Answer 30

An American Christian theologian and analytic philosopher

Question 31

what did william lane craig argue

Answer 31

it is not possible that the universe is infinite, because infinity is not logically possible

Question 32

what are the four stages of william lane craigs argument

Answer 32

o Everything that begins to exist has a cause of its existence.
o The universe began to exist.
o The universe has a cause of its existence.
o Since no scientific explanation can provide an account of the cause of the universe, there must be a personal creator God.

Question 33

what was part one of william lane craigs arguement

Answer 33

• He defends his second point. The universe began to exist by rejecting Infinite’s
• The present kind of exist in an actual infinite universe. Successive editions cannot be added to an. Actual infinite.
• If the universe is not an actual infinite, it cannot be a potential infinite either.
• The universe must have a cause, and there must have been a time when it did not exist.
• Something must have made the choice to create the universe which is outside of space and time.

Question 34

what analogy was used about the infinity of the universe?

Answer 34

a library
Imagine a library with an infinite number of books. Suppose it contains an infinite number of red book synonym for number of black books. For every red there is a black. The library contains and as many read books as the total books and as many read books is black books combined. This is absurd. The subset, red or black, cannot equal the entire set, red and black. Therefore, actual infinites cannot exist.

Question 35

what is the second part of william lane craigs argument based on

Answer 35

the concept of a personal creator

Question 36

summarise william lane craigs second part of his argument

Answer 36

o If the universe had a beginning, it was either caused the choice was made to cause it, or un caused it was natural.
o The column argument states that the rules of nature did not exist before the beginning of the universe, so it cannot be natural. ‘If the universe began to exist and it the universe is caused, then the cause of the universe must be a personal being who freely chooses to create the world.’
o The cause cannot be impersonal. The cause must be in a state of quiescence or activity.
o Since it is the cause of a spaciotemporal physical reality, it must be timeless, immaterial, being over man’s power.