Cosmological argument Flashcards
What was Aquinas’ first way?
Motion, by this Aquinas meant movement and change. Everything in the universe has the potential to change into something else. In order to change, external forces are required (nothing can change itself).
Give an example of motion in the universe?
The fertilised egg changes to an embryo which changes to a foetus which changes to a baby.
Why did Aquinas believe that the chain of change was not infinite?
He believed in Genesis which suggested that there was a beginning to everything. This chain of change must have been started by something which was not changed itself but triggered change.
Why can’t the cause of the chain of change change itself?
Or else it would be part of the chain of change.
What did Aquinas believe started the chain of change?
The prime mover - God, based on the unmoved mover of Aristotle. The prime mover also had to be transcendent, as it could only trigger change in the universe by being outside of it. It also must be timeless and spaceless as it can’t change.
What was Aquinas’ second way?
Cause and effect, the way of efficient causes. Aquinas believed that this chain of cause and effect was not infinite, it had a beginning (Genesis). The start of the chain must cause the chain without being caused itself (or else it would be part of the chain). This was the uncaused causer or the first cause.
What is the efficient cause? Give an example.
How something comes about and efficient cause is evident in the universe e.g. How does a baby come about? Through the fertilisation of an egg and this comes about through sexual intercourse. Efficient cause is based on the thinking of Aristotle and is one of his four causes.
What was Aquinas’ Third Way?
Contingency. This means that things in the universe come in and out of existence. Give infinite time, all possibilities will happen. There must, therefore, have been a time when nothing existed. However, something exists now. You can’t get something from nothing. There must have been something that has always existed and does not depend upon anything else for its existence - a necessary being. It exists necessarily - this being is God
How does Kenny criticise Aquinas’ first two ways?
He argues that it is not the case that everything relies on something else for its movement or change - there are things that are self-moving.
What is Leibniz’s principle of sufficient reason?
Nothing exists without a reason, Leibniz argues that there must therefore be a sufficient reason for everything, which must be a total explanation.
For Leibniz, how do you achieve a sufficient reason?
To gather a full understanding for why something exists, we must then understand why the cause of it existed and so on e.g. In order to understand why I exist, I need to understand why my parents exist and then their parents.
What does Leibniz conclude about the universe?
God is the sufficient reason for the universe
Why did Leibniz think that the universe still requires an explanation even if its is eternal?
If the universe is eternal, then there is a succession of states reaching back to eternity and neither one of these will be able to give a sufficient reason for its existence. One has to go outside of this succession of states to sufficiently explain all of them.
What was Leibniz example of the book of the elements of geometry?
Suppose the book of the elements of geometry to have been eternal, one copy having been written down from an earlier one. It is evident that even though a reason can be given for the present book out of a past one, we should never come to a full reason.
How does Leibniz’s book example apply to the world?
If you suppose the world eternal, you will suppose nothing but a succession of states and will not find in any of them a sufficient reason.
