1. THE
COSMOLOGICAL
ARGUMENT

2. AQUINAS – CONTINGENT AND NECESSARY PRINCIPLE OF SUFFFICIENT REASON
ESSENTIAL IDEAS
A POSTERIORI
Proven by reason
KEY IDEAS
Universe needs an explanation
Nothing can be its own cause
CONTINGENT
A being that relies on something else to exist – it cannot be its own cause
NECESSARY
Something that does not rely on anything else to exist
AQUINAS – MOTION
There needs to be a first mover that is unmoved by anything else – God
AQUINAS – CAUSE
There needs to be a first cause that is uncaused by anything else - God
AQUINAS – CONTINGENT AND NECESSARY
Contingent beings cannot cause their own existence, therefore there must be a necessary being that caused contingent beings to exist
PRINCIPLE OF SUFFFICIENT REASON
A complete explanation, for theists, God creating the universe as an expression of perfect love is a complete explanation
BIG BANG
Many theists believe God and science can work together; they claim that God was responsible for the Big Bang
INFINITE REGRESS
Something that just goes back forever with no starting point.
For theists this is an unsatisfactory explanation because it does not offer a complete explanation
PLATO
Need for a first cause but this was not God as such, more of a source of activity in the world
ARISTOTLE
Prime Mover - An intelligence that activates the world by its presence
WILLIAM LANE CRAIG
There had to be ‘something’ that caused the universe as nothing can only cause nothing.
KALAM ARGUMENT
Everything that exists has a cause. The universe exists and therefore must have a cause; the cause is God.
STRENGTHS
Logical that something cannot come from nothing
Provides a complete explanation (God as an expression of perfect love)
Works with Big Bang
WEAKNESSES
Fallacy of composition
Particles in space go in and out of existence by themselves
Kalam argument – big leap
Hume – why make God the exception to ‘everything needs a cause’, why can’t the universe by the exception?

3. ESSENTIAL IDEAS – QUICK QUESTIONS
A POSTERIORI
Proven by reason
KEY IDEAS
Universe needs an explanation
Nothing can be its own cause
CONTINGENT
A being that relies on something else to exist – it cannot be its own cause
NECESSARY
Something that does not rely on anything else to exist
What is the difference between a priori and a posteriori?
A’priori is based on logic and a’posteriori is based on evidence and observation
What 3 elements do all cosmological arguments have?
1, There are things that exist and it would be possible for these things not to exist.
2, The existence of things that don’t have to exist needs an explanation.
3, The explanation of the existence of such things lies in something that is self caused and totally independent.
How is the cosmological argument similar to the design argument?
Both are concerned with finding an explanation for the universe.
Both believe that the explanation must lie outside of the universe itself.
How is the cosmological argument different to the design argument?
The cosmological asks why the universe exists at all rather than just why it possesses the features that it does.

4. AQUINAS – CONTINGENT AND NECESSARY
ESSENTIAL IDEAS – QUICK QUESTIONS
AQUINAS – MOTION
There needs to be a first mover that is unmoved by anything else – God
AQUINAS – CAUSE
There needs to be a first cause that is uncaused by anything else - God
AQUINAS – CONTINGENT AND NECESSARY
Contingent beings cannot cause their own existence, therefore there must be a necessary being that caused contingent beings to exist
What did Aquinas say about motion?
Everything in the universe is in motion. Something can only be in motion if it is first moved by something else that is already moving.
What did Aquinas say about cause?
Everything that exists has a cause. Nothing can be its own cause and therefore must be caused by something else.
Why can’ contingent beings cause themselves?
Because they rely upon something else to exist

5. PRINCIPLE OF SUFFFICIENT REASON
ESSENTIAL IDEAS – QUICK QUESTIONS
PRINCIPLE OF SUFFFICIENT REASON
A complete explanation, for theists, God creating the universe as an expression of perfect love is a complete explanation
BIG BANG
Many theists believe God and science can work together; they claim that God was responsible for the Big Bang
INFINITE REGRESS
Something that just goes back forever with no starting point.
For theists this is an unsatisfactory explanation because it does not offer a complete explanation
Who is the main scholar associated with the Principle of Sufficient Reason?
Liebniz
What is an infinite regress?
Something that goes back forever
What did Swinburne say about an explanation for the universe?
The real need for an explanation for the universe lies in the fact that it is more likely that there should be nothing rather than something. The fact that something does exist (despite all the odds being against it) suggests that there must a reason for it.

6. ESSENTIAL IDEAS – QUICK QUESTIONS
PLATO
Need for a first cause but this was not God as such, more of a source of activity in the world
ARISTOTLE
Prime Mover - An intelligence that activates the world by its presence
What did Plato and Aristotle agree on?
For the universe to begin there must have been a ‘craftsman’ , a first mover who did not need anything to set him in motion, ie a necessary and self actualising being.
How does Plato avoid the problem of evil and suffering?
He is not describing the God of classical theism and so does not have to deal with the issue of why an omnibenevolent God would allow evil to exist (because he doesn’t describe God as being omnibenevolent.
What did Aristotle say about the prime mover?
An intelligence that activates the world by its presence
Non-spatial (Not in space or our understanding of time) and eternal.
Good and perfect.
What is contradictory about the idea of a prime mover?
Like Aquinas this craftsman/prime mover is said to exist eternally and is self-actualising which is contradictory to the statement ‘motion needs a prior agency to motivate it’. The premise contradicts the conclusion.

7. ESSENTIAL IDEAS – QUICK QUESTIONS
WILLIAM LANE CRAIG
There had to be ‘something’ that caused the universe as nothing can only cause nothing.
KALAM ARGUMENT
Everything that exists has a cause. The universe exists and therefore must have a cause; the cause is God.
What did William Lane Craig say about the beginning of the universe?
It is mathematically impossible that the universe has an infinite past.
There is evidence to suggest that the universe began as the result of the Big Bang.
There had to be a cosmic beginning.
There had to be ‘something’ that caused the universe as nothing can only cause nothing.
What is the major weakness with William Lane Craig’s argument?
There are particles in space that go in and out of existence by themselves thus challenging the idea that something cannot come from nothing.
What is the major weakness with the Kalam Argument?
It is a big leap from identifying that there must be a cause to concluding that this cause must be God.

8. ESSENTIAL IDEAS – QUICK QUESTIONS
WEAKNESSES
Fallacy of composition
Particles in space go in and out of existence by themselves
Kalam argument – big leap
Hume – why make God the exception to ‘everything needs a cause’, why can’t the universe by the exception?
What is the Fallacy of Composition?
When one infers that something is true of the whole from the fact that it is true of some part of the whole (or even of every proper part).
In this case, to assume that just because everything in the universe has a cause, then the universe itself must also have a cause.
Explain Hume’s point about exceptions.
Hume – If we are going to allow exceptions to the rule that everything needs a cause, why make God the exception, why not let the universe itself be the exception
Why is the discovery of particles in space that go in and out of existence by themselves so damaging for the argument?
Because the whole argument rests upon the idea that something cannot come from nothing; and seemingly, these particles do.