The Cosmological Argument Flashcards
What are contingent beings?
Something that relies on something else for its existence.
What are necessary beings?
Something that relies on nothing else for its existence.
What is a posteriori knowledge?
Knowledge based upon observation (5 senses etc.)
What is a priori knowledge?
Knowledge based upon logic and reason
What is the initial mover?
It is the first cause and is unmoved
It began the initial chain of causes, as there cannot be infinite regression
What is cosmos?
Refers to the world or universe as a perfect and well-ordered system
What can the cosmological argument also be called?
The ‘first cause’ argument
What is the basis of the argument?
The universe cannot count for its own existence and there must be a reason for it
This reason is aspatial and atemporal
What did Aquinas develop to demonstrate the existence of God?
His Five Ways argument
What was the Five Ways argument written in?
The Summa Theologica
What did Aquinas argue in the first three ways?
That nothing comes from nothing; the universe exists so something must have made it (this being God)
What type of argument is the Five Ways?
The argument is a posteriori, as it begins by examining the natural world around us (using senses/empirical evidence) and then reasons from it
When & what was the Russell & Copleston debate about?
In 1948, the two philosophers with very different views debated the existence of God
Who was Fredrick Copleston & what did he argue?
He was invited to argue for theism and was a Jesuit priest
How did Copleston argue for God’s existence?
He used Aquinas’ third way (contingency)
Who was Bertrand Russell and what did he argue?
He was a philosopher of Maths and was invited to argue for the atheist position
What were Russell’s views?
Discussion of God was beyond the scope of human reason or experiment
It is therefore meaningless, as was any discussion about the universe
What are the strengths of the cosmological argument?
It is a posteriori and therefore it is testable
e.g., in nature we observe that things do not usually happen without a reason
This leads us to conclude that there must be a cause
What is Hume’s view?
Hume does not trust a posteriori reasoning as we can never know it to be certain
Although we see the universe as it is no, we did not see the universe at the time of creation
However, it answers the human desire for explanation
What is Swinburne’s view?
Swinburne was satisfied even with the partial explanation of accepting the simplest answer
For many people, the fact that the Cosmological Argument offers a complete explanation for the entirety of creation is evidence enough for believing in the argument
What does Russell say?
The universe is a ‘brute fact’
