Cosmo Arg Flashcards
Key Cosmo philosophers
Aquinas
Leibinz
Copleston
Russell
Hume
The Five ways
Arg for am unmoved mover
Arg for an uncaused causer
Arg from design
Aquinas’ first way
- All that moves is moved by something else.
- The moved is moved by something else.
- The chain cannot by infinite.
- Therefore there must be an unmoved mover.
- God.
Aquinas’ Second way
- All things have a cause
- Every cause has a cause
- There can be an infinite number of causes
- Therefore there must be an uncaused cause
- God
Aquinas’ Third way
- Things come into existence and later cause to exist
- Therefore, at a time, nothing existed
- But, something exists only as a result of something else that exists
- Therefore there must be a being that has necessary existence
A-posteriori Arg
Arg using empirical evidence
The Fallacy of Composition
Giving the characteristics of things within a group to the group as a whole.
E.g. that swan is white, therefore, all swans are white
A priori
Arg using reason rather than empirical evidence
Copleston: Cause of universe?
God.
Russel: Cause of universe?
Universe is just there.
It’s a brute fact.
It’s an explanation within itself.
The cosmological arguement is based…
on our experience that everything has a cause - aposteriori
It moves onto the assumption that the universe must have a first cause - apriori
Copleston religious status
Theist.
Christian.
Russel religious status
Atheist.
Principle of sufficient reason
States that there is a complete explanation for everything.
Aq + Copleston argue the sufficient reason for the universe is God.
Russel rejects this arguing the universe is a brute fact.
