Cosmo Arg Flashcards
(14 cards)
Key Cosmo philosophers
Aquinas
Leibinz
Copleston
Russell
Hume
The Five ways
Arg for am unmoved mover
Arg for an uncaused causer
Arg from design
Aquinas’ first way
- All that moves is moved by something else.
- The moved is moved by something else.
- The chain cannot by infinite.
- Therefore there must be an unmoved mover.
- God.
Aquinas’ Second way
- All things have a cause
- Every cause has a cause
- There can be an infinite number of causes
- Therefore there must be an uncaused cause
- God
Aquinas’ Third way
- Things come into existence and later cause to exist
- Therefore, at a time, nothing existed
- But, something exists only as a result of something else that exists
- Therefore there must be a being that has necessary existence
A-posteriori Arg
Arg using empirical evidence
The Fallacy of Composition
Giving the characteristics of things within a group to the group as a whole.
E.g. that swan is white, therefore, all swans are white
A priori
Arg using reason rather than empirical evidence
Copleston: Cause of universe?
God.
Russel: Cause of universe?
Universe is just there.
It’s a brute fact.
It’s an explanation within itself.
The cosmological arguement is based…
on our experience that everything has a cause - aposteriori
It moves onto the assumption that the universe must have a first cause - apriori
Copleston religious status
Theist.
Christian.
Russel religious status
Atheist.
Principle of sufficient reason
States that there is a complete explanation for everything.
Aq + Copleston argue the sufficient reason for the universe is God.
Russel rejects this arguing the universe is a brute fact.
