Weaknesses/ Criticisms Of The Cosmological Argument Flashcards
Russell - fallacy of composition
States that we cannot apply properties from part of the whole (the whole being the universe) to all the whole, just because we observe contingency in our part of the universe, it doesn’t mean that all things in the universe are contingent because we haven’t experienced all things in the universe.
Russell - Brute fact
We should just accept that the universe is here as a brute fact without needing an explanation for why we have it. We know the universe exists because we are in it so why do we need to explain its existence, surely it’s existence alone is enough.
Why is it the god of Christian theism?
No evidence would suggest that the necessary being is the Christian God, it could be any being - in fact the problem of evil would point away from it being the Christian God. So even if the cosmological argument is proven, the necessary being could be anything not God.
Hume - Necessary being in nonsensical
Saying God is necessary doesnt make sense, there is no reason that god must exist in the same way that there is no reason why any other being must exist. Why is God the only special being who doesn’t have a cause? Anything that could exist could also just as easily not exist including God.
Hume + Mackie - the universe is necessary itself
Why should it be God that the everything relies on for its existence and not something else, why is it not the universe itself that is necessary and able to support itself. This conforms with the principle of Okhams razor as it is more simple to believe that one entity (matter) is necessary rather than two entities (matter and mind). Mackie argued that there could be a ‘permanent stock of matter who’s essence did not involve existence from anything else’ .
Big bang
Scientists such as Hawkings have argued that the Big Bang was a spontaneous random event that didn’t involve a cause.
A posteriori
Can’t prove anything as it only leads to probability not certainty, it relies on accepting the nature of the evidence from our observations and experiences which may be misleading or confused.
