1. Everything which begins to exist has a cause.2. The Universe exists so it must have a cause.3. You cannot have infinite regress (i.e. An

infinite number of causes).4. Therefore it is logical to suggest that there

must have been an uncaused cause, which caused everything to happen

5. Such an uncaused cause is what people understand by ‘God’.

6. God was not caused by anything else. (God is therefore referred to as ‘the uncaused cause’)

The Cosmological Argument

The Cosmological argument

• Aquinas used natural theology to argue 5 ‘proofs’ for God. The first three were all variants of the Cosmological Argument

Cosmological Argument

1. God is the Primary Mover2. God is the Uncaused Causer3. Possibility and Contingency

1. God is the Primary Mover

• If something is moving then it must have been set in motion by something else

• God must have been the one who started it all off

• Einstein believed that the Universe must have had a starting point and was not ‘infinite’

2. God is the Uncaused Causer

• Every effect has a cause

• There must be a first cause behind everything

• That must be God

3. Possibility and Contingency

Contingency = subject to change and decay

• The world is made up of contingent things• Every contingent thing depends on something else for

its existence• You can’t have an unlimited sequence – so there must

have been a being which isn’t contingent• That being must be God

The Strengths

Strengths

• Many philosophers have embraced this argument, including Descartes and Leibniz

Nothing takes place without

sufficient reason

The strength of the argumentIs that it is based on the scientific principle that everything has a cause.The second strength of the argument is that it starts off by saying, “the universe exists.” It’s easy to grasp and it makes sense!

The argument has some weaknesses

Firstly, you may have proved a “first cause” but that doesn’tmean it was the Christian God

The second weakness is this.

You start off by saying“everything has a cause,”

It doesn’t make sense, and it’snot logical to then say“God has no cause.”

The second weakness is this.

Also, if there needs tobe an ‘uncaused cause’, why can’t the universe itself be the ‘uncaused cause’?

Why does the Universe need to have a cause anyway? Maybe it operates by a different set of rules

David Hume(Scottish Philosopher)

The Cosmological Argument

Draw a picture and explain how dominos are a helpful way of understanding this argument

Include the key words: -• Thomas Aquinas• Natural Theology• Scientific method• Cosmological• Uncaused Cause• Infinite regress

Now...

• Read and complete p60-61 of the purple book• Then, work on your homework for tomorrow.