Cosmological argument AO1

Question 1

Brief summary

Answer 1

Argument based on the claim that God must exist due to the fact the universe needs a cause

Question 2

First way: motion/change

Answer 2

• everything that moves is moved by something else
• that mover must also be moved by something else
• cannot have an infinite chain of movers, or there would be no reason for movement to get started at all
• therefore, must be an unmoved mover, producing movement in everything, without itself being moved
• this unmoved mover is what people understand to be God

Question 3

Second way: causation

Answer 3

• everything has a cause
• every cause has its own cause
• you cannot have an infinite number of causes, therefore there must be an an uncaused cause, which causes everything to happen without itself being caused by anything else
• such an uncaused cause is what people understand by God

Question 4

Third way:Contingency/Neccesity

Answer 4

• Ordinary things start to exist and later stop existing
• Therefore at some time none of them was in existence
• Something can only come into existence by being caused by something else that already exists
• therefore, there must be a being whose existence is neccessary and therefore not limited by time. This being is what people understand to be God