cosmological argument Flashcards
what kind of argument is the cosmological?
inductive and a posteriori
what is Aquinas first way?
motion or change- all things in the universe are either moving or movers. if we look back to the sequence of movements we would eventually come to something which started the sequence, GOD
what is the unmoved mover?
something which has not been moved by anything else and cannot be moved. it is responsible for the sequence of movements and is “that which all men call GOD”
what is Aristotles analogy of motion?
a block of marble is just a block until a sculptor shapes it into something and so the universe was sculpted by someone, GOD
what is aquinas second way?
concept of cause and effect, the idea everything has a cause, as everything in nature is subject to it. But what was the first cause as nothing can cause itself. GOD this rejects infinite regress
what is infinite regress?
the idea that the universe has always existed
what is aquinas third way?
contingency and necessity. contingent means everything has the possibility to exist as it does to not exist.
and in order for contingent beings to exist there needs to be a necessary being to bring them into existence GOD
god exists outside the laws of the universe
what does a posteriori mean?
a statement that is based on actual observation or evidence
what was the written work in which Aquinas 5 ways are held?
the Summa Theologica
what are the 4 statements which explain the cause of the universe
- everything that exists has a cause
- the universe exists
- the universe has a cause
- the cause is god
what is the problem with the 4 statements?
what caused god, which leads it to say god caused god which is a contradiction as god is uncaused
who came up with the kalam argument?
made up by Al-Kindi and Al-Ghazali and then rediscovered by William lane Craig
what does the kalam argument state?
it states that
everything that BEGINS to exist has a cause
the universe BEGAN to exist
the universe since it began to exist it was caused by god
how does the kalam argument justify god being eternal?
since the universe began to exist it as caused by god. since god is eternal he has no cause
what are the weaknesses of this argument?
- it does not prove that it was the god of classical theism that created the universe.
- if the universe began to exist something still had to come from nothing to begin to exist
