Thomas Aquinas’ Cosmological Argument
The CA seeks to demonstrate the existence of God based on the premise that
there is a universe. It seeks to show why there is a universe and a world in which
we live rather than nothingness.
Appears to answer the questions:
- How did the universe begin?
- Why was the universe created?
- Who created the universe?
The argument is:
- A posteriori based on what can be empirically observed in the world and the
universe (based on sense experience).
- Inductive based on probability and not on absolutely certain proof; premises
are synthetic in nature; they are not necessarily true (the stronger the evidence
for them, the more likely they are to be true).
Thomas Aquinas (c. 1224 – 1274):
Developed the most famous form of the CA.
He based his argument on 2 assumptions:
- That the universe exists
- That there must be a reason why it exists.
All but the most sceptical would agree with the former, but not all would
agree with the latter.
Some scholars such as David Hume and Bertrand Russell are happy to accept
that the universe just is, without moving to the conclusion that there should be
some reason for it.
Aquinas argues that the claim that the universe has existed forever is false, by
showing that there cannot be an infinite regress of causes.
Aquinas’ CA appears in the first of his ‘5 ways’ for proving the existence of God,
in his famous work, the “Summa Theologica”:
Way 1: his argument from motion and change.
Way 2: his argument from causation.
Way 3: the argument from contingency and necessity.
The first 3 arguments are interrelated, but way 3 is often seen as the most
important
Necessary existence: a being that is not dependent for its existence on anything
outside itself. An eternal being beyond space and time.
Contingent existence: beings that are born, live and die. Beings that are
dependent on things outside themselves. Things that we can imagine not existing
The CA seeks to demonstrate the existence of God based on the premise that
there is a universe. It seeks to show why there is a universe and a world in which
we live rather than nothingness.
Appears to answer the questions:
- How did the universe begin?
- Why was the universe created?
- Who created the universe?
The argument is:
- A posteriori based on what can be empirically observed in the world and the
universe (based on sense experience).
- Inductive based on probability and not on absolutely certain proof; premises
are synthetic in nature; they are not necessarily true (the stronger the evidence
for them, the more likely they are to be true).
Thomas Aquinas (c. 1224 – 1274):
Developed the most famous form of the CA.
He based his argument on 2 assumptions:
- That the universe exists
- That there must be a reason why it exists.
All but the most sceptical would agree with the former, but not all would
agree with the latter.
Some scholars such as David Hume and Bertrand Russell are happy to accept
that the universe just is, without moving to the conclusion that there should be
some reason for it.
Aquinas argues that the claim that the universe has existed forever is false, by
showing that there cannot be an infinite regress of causes.
Aquinas’ CA appears in the first of his ‘5 ways’ for proving the existence of God,
in his famous work, the “Summa Theologica”:
Way 1: his argument from motion and change.
Way 2: his argument from causation.
Way 3: the argument from contingency and necessity.
The first 3 arguments are interrelated, but way 3 is often seen as the most
important
Necessary existence: a being that is not dependent for its existence on anything
outside itself. An eternal being beyond space and time.
Contingent existence: beings that are born, live and die. Beings that are
dependent on things outside themselves. Things that we can imagine not existing
