The Cosmological argument

Cosmological from the word ‘cosmos’ meaning universe The Cosmological Argument is one of the oldest arguments to prove the existence of God. Cosmological Argument is based on the idea of cause and effect ( remember the dominoes)

Posteriori and A Priori The Cosmological argument is an a posteriori argument as opposed to an a priori one. A Posteriori arguments are ones based on evidence ie posterior ( your behind, what is behind us)in the case of the Cosmological Argument it is the existence of the universe. An a Priori argument is one that does not depend on evidence but on reason alone.

Plato and Aristotle Plato and Aristotle both put forward ideas relating to a First Cause. Plato (427–347 BCE) refers to a demiurge of supreme wisdom and intelligence as the creator of the Cosmos in his work Timeaus. Aristotle ( 384–322 BCE) also put forth the idea of a First Cause, often referred to as the "Prime Mover" or "Unmoved Mover" in his work Metaphysics.

Saint Thomas Aquinas St Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274) believed that the Natural World provided a lot of evidence for God’s existence. In his work Summa Theologica he set out Five Ways of prooving God’s existence from this evidence.These proofs were concerned with the things people observed and experienced every day ( a posteriori)

The Five Ways The first three of the five are Cosmological, the fourth of the five arguments is Ontological and the fifth Teleological. The first three ways are as follows: Motion Cause Contingency

The First Way - Motion The First Way is based on Motion. In the world there are things that are in motion, and whatever is in motion must have been moved by something else. According to Aquinas this chain cannot go back to Infinity (we cannot have infinite regression),there must have been a First or Prime Mover which was itself unmoved. The Unmoved Mover began the movement in everything. Aquinas argued that the Prime Mover is God.

The Second Way - Cause The Second Way has the same structure as the First Way, but it replaces the word Motion with Cause Aquinas argued that every effect has a cause. Nothing can cause itself because it doesn’t exist before it was caused There must be a Cause for the universe since something cannot come from nothing.The Universe cannot just have created itself.It is therefore logical to think that God caused the universe to come into existence. Again Aquinas said we cannot have infinite regression, therefore we need an Uncaused Causer which has to be God

The Third Way - Contingency The Third Way is the argument from Contingency. Matter in the universe is contingent –it comes into being and it perishes There must be a point in history in which nothing existed The Necessary being that brought things into existence was God.He concluded that if God did not exist nothing would exist. He concluded that if God did not exist nothing could exist.