U1T2 The Cosmological Argument Flashcards
Swinburne - explanation of cosmological argument
A may be explained by B, and B by C, but in the end there will be some one object on whom all other objects depend
what type of argument is the cosmological argument
inductive, a posteriori
Plato - primary and secondary movers
primary movers have the power to move or change themselves and others - only souls can be primary movers. secondary movers can only move or change others once they have been moved
Aristotle - something from nothing?
all change must come from an ultimate source - if there was no first cause, there would be nothing. universe cannot come into being out of nothing owing to no action
syllogism of Aquinas’ First Way: The Unmoved Mover
P1) nothing can move itself
P2) an infinite chain of movers without a beginning can have no successive movers
C) there must be a mover that causes motion in all: that unmoved mover is God
overview of Aquinas’ First Way: The Unmoved Mover
all things are in motion. whatever is moved is moved by another. this cannot go on to infinity (infinite regress) so has to arrive at a first, necessary mover. this is understood to be God
Aquinas’ Second way - The Uncaused Causer overview
The world has an order of efficient causes, where nothing causes itself as this would be impossible. it is therefore necessary to admit to a first efficient cause which itself has no cause - God.
Aquinas’ third way - From Necessity and Contingency overview
everything we observe is contingent, therefore at some point nothing existed. it would have therefore been impossible for anything to have begun to exist, unless there exists a necessary being - God.
definition of contingent
something contingent can exist, and not exist - it requires a cause to exist. contingent things can be generated and corrupted (destroyed)
definition of necessary
something necessary depends on nothing, cannot be corrupted or generated, is independent and immortal
potentiality (in potentia) and actuality (in actu)
potentiality refers to inherent capacities for something to exist / be in a certain state
actuality is the realisation of those capacities and its actually being in that state
the Kalam Cosmological Argument
Islamic version of the argument
P: whatever comes into being must have a cause
P: the universe came into being
C: the universe must have a cause
Kalam premise 1 (whatever begins to exist has a cause) support
never witness something coming from nothing (supported by experiencing the world, & science)
Kalam premise 2 (the universe began to exist) support from science: second law of thermodynamics
processes in a closed system tend towards equilibrium - if universe had always existed this point would have been reached and there would be no useable energy
Kalam premise 2 (the universe began to exist) support from science: Hubble’s measuring of redshift
empirically confirmed universe expanding outwards from a single point in the finite past
