Cosmological argument revision notes summary

COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT

AO1- COS- AQUINAS 

-       Arguments for God’s existence based on Gods ability to create the universe. Generally refer to God as first cause or prime mover. 

-       Prime mover- Aristotle: that which creates movement as a final purpose. Aquinas: the divine initiator of all change and motion.  

-       Motion: for a&a: not just movement but change of any sort. Eg. Warm to cold. 

-       First cause: the uncaused beginning of all other beings, initiating all other causes. 2^nd of A’s five ways. 

-       Necessity: something that has to be the cause. 

-       Contingency: something is contingent if its existence is dependent on something else in order to exist 

-       Infinite regress: an endless sequence going back through time, without beginning. 

-       The first of the three ways are known collectively as the cosmological argument. 

-       Prime mover: argument from motion. Tells us that everything I motion (such as the planets in the universe) cannot be moved without a mover. Nothing can g from a state of potentiality to actuality. Meaning that there had to be a prim-mover (something that started off all the motion) and that prime mover would not need to be moved himself. 

-       AQUINAS PRIME MOVER: uncaused cause which initiates all movement in the universe by a deliberate act of will.

-       ARISTOTLE PRIME MOVER: acts by attraction, indifferent to the universe, has/had no intentions towards it just happens to attract everything I the universe. 

-       First cause:

-       Everything that comes into existence must have a cause. The universe came into existence, therefore the universe must have a cause. For aquinas it’s illogical to assume that the universe didn’t have a cause: because if we didn’t, then we wouldn’t be here today- it would be an infinite regress of causation, and in scientific terms nothing can traverse an infinite pass causality. Therefore a starting point is needed, and aquinas again suggested that this starting point was the [rome mover we call god. 

-       No big bang by itself bc that Is an effect so it has to be caused by smth (God)

-       But what caused god? God does not have a cause. Different from any object within the universe. A ‘caused God’ would be a…