Theme 1A: Inductive arguments - cosmological

Question 1

What does the cosmological argument attempt to prove?

Answer 1

That God is the cause of the universe

Question 2

What type of argument is the cosmological argument?

Answer 2

Inductive
Posteriori

Question 3

What does inductive argument mean?

Answer 3

Probability not proof, even if the premises are true the conclusion can still be false

Question 4

what does posteriori mean?

Answer 4

Based on experience not logic

Question 5

What is the cosmological argument based on?

Answer 5

It is based on our experience that everything has a cause - posteriori

Question 6

What does the cosmological argument presume?

Answer 6

That the universe must have a first cause - priori

Question 7

Why is the cause of the universe a external cause?

Answer 7

As it must be located outside of the universe

Question 8

What are the key facts about the external cause in the cosmological argument?

Answer 8

• Not itself cause
• Doesn’t need an explanation
• The external cause is God
• God’s existence is necessary

Question 9

Who came up with the 5 ways of the cosmological argument?

Answer 9

Thomas Aquinas

Question 10

What is the name of the book that Aquinas wrote the cosmological argument in?

Answer 10

Summa Theologica

Question 11

What is Aquinas first way referred to as?

Answer 11

‘Motion and change’

Question 12

What is the first way?

Answer 12

• Everything in the world is in a state of change or motion
• When we look down the changes we would have to come to something that started the sequence off
• At the start of the sequence there must be an unmoved mover
• Aquinas called this God

Question 13

Who was Aquinas influenced by for the first way?

Answer 13

• Aristotle’s idea of a prime mover
• He used Aristotle’s examples and explanations

Question 14

What was Aristotle’s idea of a prime mover (first way)?

Answer 14

• Aristotle uses things moving from a state of potentiality to a state of an actuality
• There must be an efficient cause that moves potentiality to actuality

Question 15

What did Aquinas believe about infinite regress?

Answer 15

• He rejected it
• He believed we would not find the first cause of things by simply going further and further back in time
• He said there must be a beginning point

Question 16

What is infinite regress?

Answer 16

Finding the first cause of things by simply going further and further back in time

Question 17

What was Aristotle’s analogy that can be used to illustrate the first way?

Answer 17

• The example of a block of marble
• The block has the potentiality to become a statue (actuality) but only when acted on by the sculptor (efficient cause)
• The universe is the same

Question 18

What was Aquinas analogy that can be used to illustrate the first way?

Answer 18

• The example of wood
• Wood has the potential to become hot but it needs actual heat to do so
• An efficient cause (fire) must cause the wood to become hot.
• The universe is the same

Question 19

What concept does the second way deal with?

Answer 19

Cause and effect

Question 20

According to Aquinas, what is controlled by the law of cause and effect?

Answer 20

Everything observable in nature

Question 21

What is the second way based on?

Answer 21

efficient causality

Question 22

How do we see efficient causality in the world around us?

Answer 22

As there is an order of efficient causes and it is impossible that something is its own efficient cause

Question 23

What can the order of efficient causes not do (second way)?

Answer 23

Cannot proceed to infinity

Question 24

What is the second way?

Answer 24

• Everything has a cause as nothing can cause itself
• There can’t be an infinite number of causes as with an infinite chain there can be no first cause
• Therefore there must be a first cause on which all other things depend on
• Aquinas called this God

Question 25

Why does Aquinas reject the idea of an infinite series of cause and effect?

Answer 25

As if it was infinite, what would have caused all the cause and effect now

Question 26

What are the key terms in the second way?

Answer 26

Efficient cause: What causes all other causes Intermediate cause: The thing that causes the efficient cause - Ultimate cause: The thing that is caused by the intermediate cause

Question 27

What concept does Aquinas's third way deal with?

Answer 27

Contingency and necessity

Question 28

What did Aquinas's state about the world in the third way?

Answer 28

That everything in the world is dependent on something else - contingent

Question 29

What is the third way?

Answer 29

- Everything in the world is contingent - If everything is dependant on something else nothing would exist - So there must be a necessary being - This necessary being must not be dependant on anything else and brought everything else into existence - Aquinas's stated this was God

Question 30

Who created an analogy for the third way?

Answer 30

Copleston

Question 31

What was Copleston analogy for the third way?

Answer 31

- Using the relationship between a parent and a child - Without the existence of a parent, the child cannot come into existence - The child is contingent on the parent for its existence - Its the same way as God

Question 32

Why is the Kalam argument cosmological?

Answer 32

It seeks to prove that God was the temporal (relating to time) first cause of the universe

Question 33

What is Kalam arabic for?

Answer 33

'Argue' or 'Discuss'

Question 34

Who first developed the Kalam argument?

Answer 34

Al Kinda and Al Ghazali - An Islamic group of thinkers influenced by Aristotle

Question 35

When was the Kalam argument first developed?

Answer 35

850 CE

Question 36

Who later developed a modern version of the Kalam argument?

Answer 36

William lane Craig

Question 37

What century did William lane Craig create a modern version of the Kalam argument?

Answer 37

20th Century

Question 38

What view is the Kalam argument based on?

Answer 38

The view that infinity cannot exist in actuality so the universe must of had a beginning

Question 39

What is the Kalam argument?

Answer 39

- Whatever comes into being must have a cause - The universe came into being - Therefore the universe must have a cause of its existence - Since no scientific evidence can provide a causal account of the origins of the universe, the cause must be personal - This personal agent can be seen as God

Question 40

What are the two arguments in the Kalam argument?

Answer 40

- Actual infinite can't exist - Actual infinite can't be formed

Question 41

What is the Actual infinite can't exist argument in the Kalam argument?

Answer 41

- If you had an infinite number of red and black balls, you would have an infinite number of black and red balls - In reality this is not possible - It is the same with the universe - Could also use the library example

Question 42

What is the actual infinite can't be formed argument in the Kalam argument?

Answer 42

- Successive addition - You can always add more to a number - Dates, times and numerical sequences are evidence against actual infiite due to this - Therefore it is illogical to think of actual infinity - If something does not contain its own reason for existing, then it must have been caused by something else. Only when we arrive at a self causing, necessary being can we say we have reached the end of the chain of cause and effect