Cosmological arguments (God) Flashcards
What are cosmological arguments?
Arguments that claim everything in the world is reliant on something else to exist, namely God.
What is Aquinas’ first way from motion?
P1. We observe motion.
P2. Motion objects going from potentiality to actuality
P3. A thing can only come to be in motion by being moved.
P4. A mover must be something that is actual.
P5. A thing cannot move itself.
C1. So, all things in motion must have been moved by something else.
P6. If there were no first mover, there would be no motion now.
C2. Therefore, there must be a first mover which must itself be unmoved (pure actuality). That thing we call God.
What is Aquinas’ second way from atemporal causation?
P1. We observe efficient causation.
P2. Nothing can cause itself.
P3. There is a logical order to sustaining causes: the first cause, then intermediate causes, then an ultimate effect.
P4. If A is the efficient cause of B, then if A doesn’t exist neither does B.
C1. There must be a first sustaining cause, otherwise P1 would be false as there would be no further sustaining causes or effects.
C2. As there is a first cause, there cannot be an infinite regress of causes.
C3. The first cause must itself be uncaused. That thing we call God.
What is efficient causation?
The thing or agent which actually brings about the cause.
What is temporal causation?
A horizontal sequence where effects are brought about at certain points in time.
What is the Kalam cosmological argument?
P1. Everything that begins to exist has a cause of its existence
P2. The universe began to exist (an infinite regress is not possible)
C1. So, the universe has a cause of its existence
Focuses on the first existence of the universe. It involves temporal causation. Further inferences show that the cause of the universe is God.
What is a counter to the Kalam argument?
The possibility of infinite regress. P2 relies on no infinite regress. Hume says a finite regress can be denied without contradiction, there is logical possibility of an infinite regress.
What is the causal principle?
The idea that every event must have a cause. It seems impossible for an event to happen without a cause, as something cannot come from nothing. Everything that begins to exist and every contingent being must have a cause.
What is the objection to the causal principle?
Hume’s Fork. Causal principle cannot be analytic because it can be denied without contradiction. The idea of an event doesn’t seem contradicted by the idea of ‘no cause’.
What is Aquinas’ 3rd way? (contingency)
P1. We observe that there are contingent beings
P2. If it is possible for something to not exist, then there is some time in which it doesn’t exist.
C1. If everything were contingent, then at one time nothing existed.
P2. If nothing once existed, nothing could begin to exist, so nothing would exist now.
C2. So, there must be something that is not contingent, that thing we call God
What is Leibniz’ principle of sufficient reason?
