The cosmological argument Flashcards
Aquinas
first 3 ways - motion, causation and contingency
must be an unmoved mover
and uncaused causer
and a neccessary being
this is God
Leibniz
‘the principle of sufficient reason’
everything in the universe must have a reason for it’s existence
the universe exists so it must have reasoning for this outside of itself
That reason is GOD
universeis not a ‘brute fact’ - it cannot exist without reason
William Lane Craig
theory has islamic roots such as Al-Ghazali
uses science to show that the universe had a beginning e.g. big bang
cause of universe must be
immaterial
timeless
spaceless
personal
all characteristics that match Gods
main critic
Hume
the universe may not have a cause and effect that is outside of our empirical understanding
‘fallacy of composition’ - example of having a mother
universe may be a ‘brute fact’ - cosmological argument answering a question that does not exist
we can convieve of God not existing therefore his existence is not logically valid
critic
Kant
cosmological argument relies on ontological
we can only apply reason to things we experience and not things like God
applying human cause and effect to the universe is illegitimate
cannot define God into existence by calling him neccessary
modern critic
Bertrand Russel
‘the universe is just there, that is all’
universe does not need an explanation outside of what it is
questions about why something exists are non-sensicle - they just exist
modern supporter
Copleston
focuses on contngency
series of contingent beings without a neccessary being does not explain itself
must be a neccessary being to explain why the series exists at all
not asking the why questions is ‘philosophically weak’
goes against russel
inductive approach
Swinburne
rather than deductive
the fact of the universe welcomes the question of the cause
God is the simplest explanation ofthe cause
Bayesian reasoning - gods existence is more probable than not
cosmological argument is part of a borader argument for gods existence
