The Cosmological Argument Flashcards Preview

Philo. Platon, Gott > The Cosmological Argument > Flashcards

Flashcards in The Cosmological Argument Deck (10)
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1
Q

How did Aquinas attempt to prove the existence of God?

A

a Posteriori

2
Q

What does ‘Cosmos’ mean?

A

The universe

3
Q

Describe the argument from motion

A
  • Everything in the world is moving or changing
  • Nothing can do so by itself
  • There cannot be an infinite regress of things changing other things
  • There must be a Prime Mover (God)
4
Q

Describe the argument from causation

A
  • Everything in the world has a cause
  • Nothing is the cause of itself
  • There cannot be an infinite regress of causes
  • There must be a first cause (God)
5
Q

Describe the argument from contingency

A
  • Everything in the world is contingent
  • If it is possible for things not to exist, there must have been a time when they did not
  • There must have been a time where nothing existed
  • Things exist now so something must have brought them into existence (God)
6
Q

What did Copleston say about the CA?

A
  • There are things that are contingent
  • Nothing in the world is self-explanatory
  • There must be a cause of the universe which is outside of it
  • This being must be self-explanatory which contains within itself the reason for its own existence
  • This necessary being is God
7
Q

How did Russell criticise Copleston?

A
  • Refused to accept the notion of a necessary being
  • “The universe is an unintelligible brute fact”
  • “I should say the universe is just there and that’s all”
8
Q

How did Hume criticise the CA?

A
  • We have no experience of creation so we cannot speak about it meaningfully
  • To move from ‘everything we observe has a cause’ to ‘the universe has a cause’ is too big a leap in logic
9
Q

How did Kant criticise the CA?

A

Said that we cannot jump from the physical world to the metaphysical world

10
Q

Who was Aquinas (13th century) influenced by when proposing the CA?

A

Aristotle and his Prime Mover