The Cosmological Argument: Key Words Flashcards
Brute Fact
A fact that has no explanation
Contingent
Contingent beings or things are dependent for their existence on other beings or things. In the Cosmological Argument, contingency implies the existence of something necessary - God.
Cosmos
‘The cosmos’ usually refers to this space-time universe.
Fallacy
A fallacy is a failure in reasoning which makes an argument invalid.
Fallacy of Composition
This is the fallacy of inferring that something is true of the whole from the fact that it is true of part of the whole, or of every part of the whole. Russell argues that Aquinas’ third way commits the fallacy of composition.
Grace
The Christian doctrine of God’s Grace is that God shows humanity an undeserved love and mercy.
Infinite regress
In the Cosmological Argument, this is an indefinite sequence of causes or beings which does not have a first member of the series.
Metaphysical necessity
A form of necessity that derives from the nature or essence of things. Aquinas’ third way in effect holds that God has metaphysical necessity.
Occam’s Razor
[Attributed to William Ockham c.1287-1347) Given in various forms: if there are competing hypotheses, choose the one that makes the fewest assumptions/entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily/ if there are two competing theories that make the same predictions, the simpler one is the better.
Principle of Sufficient Reason
The doctrine that everything must have a reason or cause: every contingent fact about the universe must have an explanation. Leibniz used the principle in connection with his Cosmological Argument to ask, ‘Why is there a universe at all, and why is it the way that it is?’, from which he concluded that God must exist as a necessary being.
Quark
An elementary particle assumed to be one of the building blocks of matter.
