Cosmological Argument Flashcards
what does Kosmos mean?
universe
cosmological argument fundamentals
why is there something rather than nothing and that everything must have a beginning
which famous philosopher wrote summa theologica
Thomas Aquinas
what does the summa theologica explain
1- firstly = god is the first mover - everything must have been moved by something else and this cannot go into ‘INFINITE REGRESS’
2= god is the fist efficient cause- each thing in the universe has a cause but God - God is the uncaused cause
3= God is the only thing that has necessity in its existence all other things are contingent
what is infinite regress
going back and back
who was kalam
a muslim scholar who (with others) developed the Kalam argument and questions the concept of infinity
what does kalam state
1= in a infinite library which would be greater the number of books or the total number of green spines 2= if we borrowed a book from the library would the total number of books decrease
what did Al Ghazali argue
that actual infinity are impossible therefore universe cannot be infinite and must have beginning and therefore a cause i.e. God
which philosopher gave the argument a boost
William Lane Craig
William lane Craig argument
he gave it a modern form - 1= universe has a beginning 2= beginning was a caused
3= that cause was probably personal choice
4= therefore God exists
critisism of craig
universe might be infinite (steady state theory) and the cause might have been entirely impersonal
who challenges Aquinas
Hume
what is Humes argument
1= like causes resemble life effects - finite effect will have finite cause - would be more reasonable to assume that the world was created by Male and Female Gods than to postulate a christian god
Homes argument on Experience
we have no experience of universe being made
we keno about causes within the universe but this doesn’t entitle us to move to a cause of universe as a whol
what does Bertand Russel say about Humes argument of experience
you can’t say that because a man has a mother mankind has a mother