The Cosmological
Argument
The basics
Make Notes on the first 7 slides
Reece, can you be in charge of Lollypop
sticks and ask people to take turns in reading
Sophie R, can you be in charge of moving the
Powerpoint slides on…
Background
• The argument states that the universe requires a
cause and an explanation: God.
• ‘Cosmological’ comes from cosmos (Greek for
world); it is concerned with the cause of the world.
• The argument is a posteriori (based on experience),
inductive (probabilistic) and synthetic (requiring
evidence, not purely logical).
• Perhaps the first cosmological argument was that of
the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, who
claimed that there must be a ‘Prime Mover’ – the
original source of motion in our world.
Thomas Aquinas
Saint Thomas Aquinas
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A 13th century theologian from Italy.
Aquinas looks back to Aristotle.
He gives three cosmological arguments.
These form the first three of his famous
Five Ways – five proofs for God.
• These are taken from his great work
Summa Theologica.
The First Way
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This is the argument from motion, taken
directly from Aristotle:
1. All moving things have a source of motion.
2. There must have been some original source
of motion, unmoved by anything else.
3. This we call God, the ‘unmoved mover’.
The Second Way
• This is the argument from causality:
1. Everything which exists must have a
cause of its existence.
2. There cannot be an infinite chain of
causes stretching back into the past.
3. There must have been some first cause
uncaused by anything else.
4. This we call God, the ‘uncaused cause’.
The Third Way
• This is the argument from contingency.
1. Everything which exists is dependent on
something else for its existence and might at
some stage not exist (it is contingent).
2. At one stage, everything did not exist.
3. There must be some thing dependent on
nothing else for its existence, the source of all
contingent things.
4. This we call God, who must exist.
Make a poster outlining the
three ways
Using plain paper and the coloured pencils
Spend 10 minutes on this
Write a paragraph on Aquinas and
then give it to your neighbour to
check
• Mention his Five Ways and his debt to
Aristotle.
• Distinguish between the three arguments
he gives, giving a sentence or two to
explain each one.
• Make sure that you use the key terms.
• Practice makes perfect – redraft the
paragraph and time yourself for speed.
Make notes on this:
Criticisms of Aquinas
• His statement that all things have a cause
of their existence or motion seems to be
contradicted by the claim that God is
uncaused. Why make an exception?
• The argument may prove that the universe
has a cause, but not that this is God. It
certainly doesn’t prove God’s attributes!
• Hume – there is no absurdity in suggesting
that some events do not have a cause.
William Lane Craig
• He has developed a modern form of
the argument:
1.The universe had a beginning.
2.That beginning was caused.
3.That cause was probably personal
(making the choice to create).
4.Therefore God exists.
Criticisms of Craig
• The universe might be infinite (steady
state theory, etc.).
• The cause of the universe might not have
involved any deliberate choice; it might
have been entirely impersonal.
Evaluation
See if you can come up with a list
of strengths and weaknesses of
the argument in your teams before
you go any further….
Strengths of the Argument
• a posteriori and inductive: it is based on
ideas we can observe and verify – objects
have causes, the universe began.
• Most scientists would agree that the
universe had a beginning (Big Bang).
• It is natural to ask why the universe began,
and science has not yet answered this.
• Copleston – if all things have a cause,
surely it makes sense for the universe to
have a cause.
Criticisms/Weaknesses
• Immanuel Kant – causality may be something
imposed on experiences by the mind; it is not
truly real. So, it can only apply to things we
experience, which does not include the creation
of the universe.
• All the argument proves is a cause. It fails to
prove the existence of God in traditional terms:
loving, powerful, etc.
• Russell: The universe is just here and that is all;
we don’t need to ask why. It is “a brute fact”.
Next lesson, you are going to be looking at the Copleston vs Russell Debate!
Bertrand Russell
Frederick Copleston
Plan, in your teams the following
essays:
a)Outline Aquinas’ Cosmological
Argument (25)
b) ‘The Cosmological Argument cannot
prove that God exists’ Discuss (10)
Use the planning a part b essay sheet to help you.