Cosmological Argument

Question 1

Who are the two main philosophers for the cosmological argument?

Answer 1

Aquinas and William lane Craig

Question 2

What are aquinas three ways

Answer 2

Motion/change
Cause and effect
Contingency and necessary

Question 3

What does motion and change mean

Answer 3

We notice things tend to to be in a state of of change or motion
Things don’t move on their own they are moved and eventually something will have to be at the start of this movement which aquinas calls this the prime mover
Aquinas talks about potentially vs actuality - it means something that it has a possibility of moving or changing into vs where it actually/reaches its potential.

For example: starting a fire, the stuff we need for a fire is already there it just needs a mover (us) to start that fire

Question 4

Why does cause and effect mean?

Answer 4

You cannot exist without something bringing you into this world. The world cannot come into place without something.
We do not exist without our parent
Everything has a cause
It’s like dominos we can’t just start from no where

Question 5

What does contingency and necessary mean?

Answer 5

Everything that has a possibility of not existing (human) is contingent
Everything that cannot not exist (god) is necessary

Aquinas says that all things in nature is limited too its existence and they all have their beginnings and end. Which means logically at one point in history nothing existed and nothing would exist
Aquinas states that the inky possible conclusion is God

Question 6

What are Aristotle’s four causes?

Answer 6

Material cause - what it is made of
Efficient cause - how it is made
Formal cause - its characteristics and what its part of
Final cause - its purpose

Question 7

Is the aquinas cosmological argument inductive or deductive

Answer 7

Inductive

Question 8

Where was the cosmological argument wrote

Answer 8

In aquinas book summa theological

Question 9

Premises and conclusion of motion?

Answer 9

P; everything is in motion or has the potential to change
P: change always cause by something
P: nothing can move of its own accord
P: prime mover or unmoved more
G: that must be god

Question 10

What are the premises and conclusion of cause and effect?

Answer 10

P: cause and effect are natural in our world
P: everything us caused by something else
P: illogical for something to be the cause of itself because that means it was there before it began
P: there needs to be a first cause
C: the first cause is god

Question 11

What are the premises and conclusion of contingency and necessity

Answer 11

P: all things in nature are subject to change and impermanence
P: it is possible for a thing to not be then come into existence and then cease to exist
P: it could exist or not exist
P: if this is so then at some point there was nothing at all
P: it is not possible for something to come from nothing
P: if this is so there must be something that brings contingent things into existence
P: something must necessarily
C: this is god

Question 12

Where did aquinas write the cosmological theory

Answer 12

Summa theological

Question 13

Where does aquinas write the cosmological theory

Answer 13

His book summa theological

Question 14

What is aquinas first way

Answer 14

Motion/change

Question 15

What does his first way say

Answer 15

Something sin the world are in motion
A thing in motion has too be moved by something ( leaves blowing everywhere os caused by the wind)
The chain of movemt cannot go infinitely go back in time
Therefore there must be a first mover, unmoved by anything else
But we have too look outside the universe for this mover because it cant be moved by anything else but essentially responsible for the movement of everything else
Aristotle and aquinas said this must be a third party known as the effienct cause
Which is god

Question 16

What is aquinas second way

Answer 16

Cause and effect

Question 17

What is cause and effect

Answer 17

Everything that exists has been created ( we were created by our parents) - it has an efficient cause
Nothing can cause itself
There is no such thing s infinite regress
Therefore there must be and uncaused first cause (something outside of our universe and our knowledge)

Question 18

What does the second way prove about gods existence

Answer 18

It doesn’t necessarily mean its the god of classical theism

Question 19

What does efficient cause mean

Answer 19

Seomthng that creates another thing

Question 20

What does a priori mean

Answer 20

Before empirical evidence

Question 21

What does contingent mean

Answer 21

Dependant on something else for its existence. Can begin and cease to exist

Question 22

What does necessary mean

Answer 22

Not reliant on anything else for its existence. Cannot not exist or cannot start or cease to exist

Question 23

What is aquinas third way

Answer 23

Contingency and necessity

Question 24

What does contingency and necessity mean

Answer 24

There are contingent items
If everything were contingent then nothing would exist at ll, as contingent needs a cause
Infinite regress of contingent items is impossible
Therefore not everything is contingent
There must be a necessary being to start off the chain of contingency
That necessary being god

Everything in the world is contingent because it relies on a dependant upon something else to be here. We cannot witness necessary being, but logically aquinas shows that there must be one \

Something like a necessary being must exist - god because god doesn’t have a necessary existence

Question 25

What was Hawkins’s challenge to the cosmological theory

Answer 25

The Big Bang theory doesn’t require god as a cause
There are not limited as to what god created
The Big Bang may have happened spontaneously like atomic particles in a vacuum
Hawking said that the universe could be self contained and without a beginning of time

Question 26

What is humes challenges to the cosmological theory

Answer 26

The fallacy of composition: Hume argued that this is a fallacy of composition. Just because every part within the universe has a cause does not mean the universe itself must have a cause. He suggested that it is possible for the universe to be self-existent and necessary, without an external cause.
What did Bertrand russel analogy say bout the fallacy of composition; “ just because every human has a mother doesn’t mean the universe has a mother”

We cannot know anything about cause and effect:
We can only talk about what we have experience of
As we have no experience of creating the universe he argues that it is beyond the limit of empirical and inductive reasoning
Therefore, we cannot assert with certainty that every event must have a cause in the way Aquinas suggested.

Not enough evidence to say whether the universe has. Cause and what it might have been. It’s beyond our epistemological limits. Why cant the universe be eternal:
He continues with th last point that we don’t have any experience of things so its past out knowledge to know about things we didn’t experience
He stressed the limits of human understanding and the importance of empirical evidence over metaphysical speculation.

A necessary being is not logical:
You can use an empirical argument (with evidence) ( in this world) to come to a non emperical (no evidence) ( out of this world)
We cant just bring something outside the universe into n argument that is in this world

Rejection of the Christian god as a necessary being:
The Christian god is tenuous ( he cant be proven)
It would be more reasonable to construct an argument that proposed a cause adequat to explain the universe without needing. God
It would be more logical to have a pair of gods both girls bd b9y because it is more aligned with our experiences

Question 27

Is the cosmological argument n successful?

Answer 27

Yes:
Supported by many philosophers
Based on empirical evidence
God isn’t in the seiess but something just outside the sequennce
God is the explanation that requires no futher explanation

No:
It says everything has a cause but god doesn’t - it doesn’t make sense
How can god be timeless and live in time
The big bang theory doesn’t require god

Question 28

Who came up with the Kalam cosmological theory

Answer 28

William lane Craig

Question 29

What does the kalam argument state

Answer 29

Things in the universe begin to exist
The universe began to exist
The universe must have a cause
Sincee no scientific explanation can provide a casual account of the origin of the universe the cause must be personal

Question 30

What is part one of the kalam argument; whatever begins to exist has a cause

Answer 30

An actual infinite universe cannot consist of a series of consecutive events; this is nit infinite
N actual infinite universe would never reach the preset moment because the preceding events would be infinite
The present moment does exist because because a series of consecutive events
The universe is nit infinite so it must be infinite
Finite things begin and everting that begins is caused to do so
The universe was caused to exist

Question 31

Whta is a set theory

Answer 31

Type of mathematic logic

Question 32

Why does causal infinite mean

Answer 32

A boundless limitless set of

Question 33

What is successive addition

Answer 33

Continuous adding of one more to a set

Question 34

Why is potential infinite

Answer 34

A chronological series of events, formed by successive additions

Question 35

What is the rejection of actual infinites

Answer 35

Consecutively adding items to a set with the potential to carry on for ever is called successive addition. A set formed through successive addition is known as potential infinite. A potential infinite is not actually infinite

Question 36

What are the two actual infinity problems (kalam)

Answer 36

Problem 1:
The definition of infinite doesn’t actually work in reality = if the world was infinite it wouldn’t have an end but it does it ends in the present

Problem two; the universe would have to be complete for it to be infinite - the future hasn’t happened yet so the universe isn’t compete

Question 37

What is ex nihlo

Answer 37

Crucial work for the argument to work
The universe was created ex nihlo ( out of nothing )
If so then the beginnig of the universe was the beginning of time
Must have been a personal agent existing outside of time to start the process

Question 38

What is kalams second concept of the argument

Answer 38

Concept of a personal god

Question 39

What is the concept of a personal creator

Answer 39

The universe was cursed to exist
It was either caused deliberately or by mindless laws of nature
The laws of nature cannot have caused the universe as they belong to it and didnt exist before it\
The universe must have been caused deliberately
Deliberate action requires a personal being with a ill
If the universe was created from nothing than the beginning of time of the universe was the beginning of time
Therefore a personal being exists outside of time a the first cause of it ll

Question 40

What does inductive mean

Answer 40

inductive reasoning, or induction, refers to reasoning or argumentation that aims to draw uncertain general conclusions based on specific observations or instances by moving from particular cases or examples to broader generalizations or theories.