Or Can you?

Contingent & Necessary existence Aims: In Philosophical terms what do we mean by contingent and necessary To consider why the universe needs a creator.

Why does the universe need an explanation? The need and the want for an explanation for the universe is key. The need for a whole explanation, rather than partial ones is the quest of science. Is it the quest of religion too or do we already posses a sufficient answer?

Consider the following Why does the universe possess the form it does, and not some other form? Why is there something rather than nothing? Consider the following How can the series of events that culminate in the universe be explained? What kind of cause or agency is necessary for the universe to come into being?

Why does the universe need an explanation? At which end of the spectrum do you think the scientific position sits? Which position do you agree with? There has to be an explanation for the cause of the universe. God is the cause of the universe and everything in it. The universe must have a cause however this is not God but something other. It was created at some point in time and will eventually come to an end. The universe has always existed eternally with no beginning or end.

Contingent vs. Necessary Contingent – depends on something else for its existence/truth. It COULD be false. e.g. If you sunbathe without sun protection, you will get sunburnt. Necessary – does not depend on anything else to exist/be true. To deny it would be a contradiction. It COULD NOT be false. e.g. 1+2=3 Is the universe a contingent thing?

If the universe is contingent, what caused it’s existence? The Universe Exists If the universe is CONTINGENT, then it relies on something else to exist. That ‘something else’ must come before the universe. If X causes Y – then X must exist first, or Y wouldn’t exist. The universe cannot be self causing, as it is contingent. If the universe is contingent, what caused it’s existence? Watch the following TED talk to hear how Jim Holt poses the problem. Ted Talk - why does the universe exist? https://www.ted.com/talks/jim_holt_why_does_the_universe_exist?language=en Did he come up with an answer?

Consider…. St. Thomas Aquinas’ Cosmological Argument, can it give us an answer? In a nutshell the Cosmological argument... Tries to satisfy a need to explain the universe’s existence. Locates God beyond the universe. The argument is based on the claim that everything existing in the universe exists because it was caused by something else; that ‘something’ was itself also caused by something else. However, it is necessary for something to have started this all off – something which did not and was not itself caused/created. That ‘something’ is God.

The 3rd Way – the argument from contingency There are things which are both possible to be and not to be. Matter in the universe is contingent – it is caused and comes into being Therefore, at one point in time, there was nothing in existence Without an uncaused causer, it would be impossible for anything to start to exist, and even now there would be NOTHING However, we know there is SOMETHING We therefore need to accept a being whose existence is necessary (NOT contingent on anything else) Without the necessary existence of this being, nothing would exist This being whose existence is necessary is GOD.

The Principle of sufficient reason. Leibniz The Principle of sufficient reason. We require explanations and reasons (FULL, not partial) for things existing – to establish why there is something rather than nothing Agrees with Aquinas that we cannot have ‘infinite regress’ as we wouldn’t get to a complete explanation “If you suppose the world eternal, you will suppose nothing but a succession of states, and will not find in any of them a sufficient reason” Leibniz, Theodicy. Man has not been able to find reason for the universe's existence within the universe itself – so the great cause must be outside of it. The most logical answer is God

Modern Science Also advocates the idea of the universe having a beginning point (the cornerstone of the Cosmological Argument) – the Big Bang Theory – not just an infinite regress of events. Scientific Origins of the Universe As far back as recorded history goes, there have been two sets of opposing ideas, beliefs, theories, or teachings about the origin of the universe. It has either existed eternally with no beginning or end, or it was created at some point in time and will eventually come to an end. In the first part we examined the early cultural, religious, and somewhat philosophical views of how the universe began. We've also spent a little time looking at some ideas about our own beginnings from a religious and scientific point of view. In this section, we're going to take a brief excursion through the various theories that science has put forth to explain the origin of the universe. What answers have science come up with? Read the rest of the article here… http://www.infoplease.com/cig/theories-universe/scientific-origins-universe.html

So is the universe a contingent thing? Many scientists and people of faith bring together God and the Big Bang to provide an answer. Read the challenges from David Hume, Bertrand Russell & Richard Dawkins to Aquinas’ Cosmological argument and weigh up the different positions. Come to your own conclusion, can the Universe be the cause of its own self? Do science and religion need to work together to find the answer?

Which do you agree with? Which is more likely? The universe created itself out of nothing – a vacuum. In doing so, it created all the material now in existence and the ‘space’ to expand into – space did not exist either! Before the universe there was no ‘space’ in to which the universe could expand. The cause of the universe was as a result of a quantum fluctuation, a short lived highly energetic spontaneous appearance and disappearance of some sort of imaginary ‘particle’. The existence of this particle is so short lived as to avoid detection. Lawrence Krauss (and Hawking) would argue that these fluctuations are the cause and start of the universe. Other universes may equally have been created in such a way suggesting that ‘our universe’ need not be so hard to imagine. So…… did ‘something cause’ the initial quantum fluctuation? A Catholic scientist might argue it was God. An atheist with the same information and evidence would argue it just happened. Which do you agree with? Which is more likely?

Re-evaluate your position on the spectrum Has your opinion changed over the course of the lesson? Is there A scientific position? The universe must have a cause however this is not God but something other. It was created at some point in time and will eventually come to an end. There has to be an explanation for the cause of the universe. God is the cause of the universe and everything in it. The universe has always existed eternally with no beginning or end.

Reflection