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COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENTS Ratio Christi Texas A&M

BACKGROUND: COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENTS Show that the universe needs a cause or explanation for its existence 2 Types:2 Types:Kalam Began in 2 nd and 3 rd century, further developed by medieval Islamic thinkers Leibnitz Also called the Horizontal cosmological argument

GOAL What are we trying to show?What are we trying to show? There is a powerful, transcendent, and personal First Cause. We eliminate religions dependent on an eternal universe as well as atheism.

THE ARGUMENT 1.Everything that begins to exist, has a cause. 2.The universe began to exist.2.The universe began to exist. 3.Therefore, the universe has a cause.3.Therefore, the universe has a cause.

CAUSATION? Being begets being, and does not come from non being Things do not pop in to being uncaused out of nothing If something can come in to being uncaused out of nothing, why doesn’t everything do so?

DID THE UNIVERSE HAVE A BEGINNING

SCIENTIFIC CONFIRMATION Standard Big Bang ModelStandard Big Bang Model General relativity predicted expanding universe. Red Shift provides empirical evidence of expansion + single point origin. Alternative models have failed leaving the Standard Big Bang model. BVG TheoremBVG Theorem Any universe which has been, on average, expanding throughout its history cannot be eternal in the past. This holds for multiverse scenarios as well. (holds for non-quantum theories)(holds for non-quantum theories)

CONCLUSION Therefore, the universe has a transcendent cause. Properties of such a causeProperties of such a causeSpacelessTimelessImmaterialUncausedPowerful These properties coincide strongly with traditional theism.

LEIBNIZIAN COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT Ratio Christi Texas A&MRatio Christi Texas A&M

FORMULATIONS Why do contingent things exist?Why do contingent things exist? Why does the physical universe exist?Why does the physical universe exist? Why is there something rather than nothing*Why is there something rather than nothing* *beware of Platonists*beware of Platonists

STATED 1.Everything that exists has an explanation for its existence, either in the necessity of its own being or in its contingency on an external entity. 2.If the universe has an explanation for its existence, that explanation is what we call God (a necessarily existing, personal being) 3.The universe is an existing thing.3.The universe is an existing thing. 4.From 1 and 3 it follows: The universe has an explanation of its existence 5.From 2 and 4 it follows: The explanation for the existence of the universe is God

PREMISE I ‘The Principle of Sufficient Reason’‘The Principle of Sufficient Reason’ Undergirds all philosophical and scientific inquiryUndergirds all philosophical and scientific inquiry Denial would be immensely anti-intellectualDenial would be immensely anti-intellectualContingent A thing is contingent if it could exist and it could have failed to exist.A thing is contingent if it could exist and it could have failed to exist. A thing’s existence is contingent if there is some possible world where it exists and some possible world where it doesn’t exist. Similarly, a contingent truth is something that is true in some possible world and false in some possible world. Necessary A being’s existence is metaphysically necessary if it cannot fail to exist; the being exists in all possible worlds. A truth is metaphysically necessary if its truth can’t be and couldn’t have been otherwise; it is true in all possible worlds.

PREMISE I Objections usually fall into one of two categoriesObjections usually fall into one of two categories God is exempt from PSR (inconsistent)God is exempt from PSR (inconsistent) Universe is exempt from PSR (God of the Gaps)Universe is exempt from PSR (God of the Gaps)

PREMISE II Implicit affirmationImplicit affirmation If atheism is true, the universe has no explanation; it simply exists as a brute fact. Toned downToned down God = ‘transcendent personal cause’God = ‘transcendent personal cause’ Conclusion is at least a bizarre form of atheismConclusion is at least a bizarre form of atheism

PREMISE II The logical possibility of alternative composition is evidence against the universe’s necessity The finite past is evidence for the universe’s contingency

PREMISE III That the universe exists is rather self-evident, making this the most difficult premise to deny. One could say tongue in cheek that if the universe doesn’t exist then neither does the person raising this objection…

ALTERNATIVE FORMULATION 1.There are contingent constituents to the universe1.There are contingent constituents to the universe 2.Given the contingent constituents of the universe, the existence of the universe is highly unlikely under the hypothesis that these constituents are themselves uncaused or self-caused. 3.Given the contingent constituents of the universe, the existence of the universe is not unlikely under the hypothesis of a first uncaused cause 4.Therefore, the existence of the universe strongly supports the existence of a first, uncaused cause over the existence of a non uncaused cause. (Max Andrews, sententias.org)(Max Andrews, sententias.org)sententias.org

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