Cosmological argument

Question 1

what is the notion of the cosmological argument

Answer 1

everything we experience in the world is contingent

Question 2

Who is the thinker behind the principle of sufficient reason

Answer 2

Leibniz

Question 3

what is the principle of sufficient reason

Answer 3

need sufficient reason/cause or total explanation

birthday cake analogy is a partial explanation

need something not contingent, self explanatory and necessary

Question 4

What is Aristotles argument about a prime mover

Answer 4

all movements depend on a prime mover

chain of events and a common source for all substances is the beginning of everything, prime mover

eternal substance, exists necessarily, can’t change or decay

Question 5

what is Aristotle’s argument based on

Answer 5

the idea of potentiality and actuality

possibly doing something and the state of it when it’s achieved

Question 6

what cause is the Prime Mover (Aristotle)

Answer 6

the final cause

Question 7

what does the prime mover attract (Aristotle)

Answer 7

everything in the universe is attracted to it

doesn’t change

Question 8

Why does the prime mover not start things (Aristotle)

Answer 8

it’s the originating cause of all motion that sustains the pattern of change from potentiality to actuality by attracting things towards it

Question 9

who is the prime mover for Aristotle

Answer 9

God

Question 10

what is it called when u argue the opposite of what you are trying to prove (Aristotle)

Answer 10

reduction ad absurdum

Question 11

what is the reduction ad absurdum of Aristotle’s argument

Answer 11

if the universe did not have a cause, there would be no cause and effect

Question 12

what argument builds on Aristotle’s argument and how

Answer 12

Kalam argument

If something is not its own reason for existing, must have been a self-causing necessary cause

Question 13

what is a weakness of Aristotle’s and the Kalam argument to do with cause

Answer 13

supposes a cause that can come into existence without a cause

argument is based on the idea that the universe cannot exist without a cause so how can the necessary cause exist without a cause?

Question 14

what is a weakness of Aristotle’s and the Kalam argument to do with science

Answer 14

science could also not yet have discovered a cause

Question 15

what is a weakness of Aristotle’s and the Kalam argument to do with cause (hypocritical)

Answer 15

how can a cause not have a cause

Question 16

what is a weakness of Aristotle’s and the Kalam argument to do with belief

Answer 16

can only convince believers in God

Question 17

what of Aquinas’ 5 ways are the cosmological argument

Answer 17

first three
1 motion
2 causation
3 contingency

Question 18

what is aquinas’ first way

Answer 18

motion

an object only moves when an external force applied

movements don’t go back to an infinite regress of movers

must have been a prime mover who was once unmoved

Question 19

why do things change (Aquinas/motion)

Answer 19

things only change because of external force

Question 20

changing because of external force example (Aquinas/motion)

Answer 20

e.g. fire making wood hot

wood can’t change itself as it would have to be both potentiality and actuality

Question 21

what is Aquinas’ second way

Answer 21

causation

Aquinas identifies a series of causes and effects in the universe

observes nothing could cause itself

would mean it would have had to existed before it existed which is logically impossible

Question 22

what is Aquinas’ third way

Answer 22

contingency

world consists of contingent items and beings

if all beings were contingent and if at one time nothing existed, nothing could come into existence as it needs a cause

all things can’t be contingent, must be a necessary one

Question 23

what is necessary to contingency (Aquinas)

Answer 23

must only be one necessary being to avoid infinite regress of necessary beings

Question 24

what are 2 strengths of Aquinas’ contingency

Answer 24

only attempts to prove uncaused cause

corresponds with science e.g. Big Bang

Question 25

what are 2 weaknesses of Aquinas’ contingency

Answer 25

could be an endless series of causes, not prime mover, universe could be infinite

still infinite regress, what was prime mover doing prior to creating the universe

Question 26

who criticises Aquinas

Answer 26

Hume and Kant