Cosmological argument Flashcards
Who developed one of the most famous versions of the argument?
Saint Thomas Aquins who was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and philosopher
What is another name given to the cosmological argument
The first cause argument
How did Aquin’s ‘prove’ the existence of God
Premise
1- everything that exists has cause for its existence
2-the universe exits
Therefore:
3-the universe too must have a cause for its existence
4- if the universe has a cause for its existence then that cause is God
Therefore:
5- God exists
Why may people say the argument contains contradictions
It argues that everything has a cause for its existence while also saying that God is the uncaused first God.
What attributes of God could religious people use to argue that God is the uncaused cause?
-omnipotent (all powerful)
-omniscient ( all seeing and all knowing)
-omni benevolent ( all loving)
-transcendent ( not bound by the laws of space and time)
-eternal ( has always and will always exist)
-beneficent ( present in the universe)
What is a scientific argument that non-religious people could use to disprove this argument?
The Big Bang Theory
What is The Big Bang Theory?
It suggests that around 15 Billion years ago there was a massive explosion. This is was the point in which the universe all began from one space time singularity. Space and time began with this explosion too.
What scientific evidence is used to try prove The Big Bang Theory ?
-through powerful telescopes it can be seen that distant galaxies are all rushing away from us and each other
- the cosmic microwave background ( we are surrounded by low energy radio waves coming from all directions from space itself.
Conclusion from Big Bang Theory
-if everything is flying apart from everything else, then at some point in the past everything must have been all together in one place.
-if the universe has much smaller in the past, the low energy radio waves we see now would have been much higher energy and much , much hotter.
What are the three versions of Aquina’s cosmological argument?
-unmoved mover (everything that moved is moved by something else)
-uncaused cause (everything that exists has a cause for its existence)
-necessary being (nothing can come from nothing)
Counter arguments
-just because everything we’ve experienced has a cause for its existence doesn’t mean the whole universe does. So we don’t have enough knowledge to come to this conclusion
-the argument is based on assumptions so only provides good reason to believe in God but doesn’t prove anything
-why does the universe need a cause if God doesn’t? The universe could have always existed .
What is a philosophical argument?
A series of statements used to persuade someone of something by using logic or to present reasons for accepting a conclusion.
