The Cosmological Argument is an apologetic argueing that God’s existence can be deduced from the fact of existence itself. It argues that things exist and that all things came from prior things. Therefore, the Universe had to have had a cause and since there was no “thing” before the Universe (or the Big Bang), that cause was or had to contain the attributes of God.
The argument is more nuanced however and has received different formulations from thinkers throughout history - as well as many detractors! The posts below seek to illuminate various aspects of the argument including historical formulations as well as offer some original thought! It has been the goal of the author to write in a way that is accessible to laypeople while containing enough substance for hobbyists or even professionals. Reasonable responses are requested in the comment sections!
The biggest - and most valid - objection to the Cosmological Argument is the issue of the inevitable Infinite Regress it engenders. If everything had a cause, then what was the first cause? Christians or theists say “God”. Atheists then ask from whence came God? And where did the thing that created God come from? And so on, ad infinitum: ‘there are turtles all the way down’ so to speak (for those who get the reference).
Read MoreAseity is the concept that something can exist uncaused by anything else. The term itself was coined by Christian theologians in the Middle Ages but the concept exists in Judaism and Islam and predates Christ, first appearing in written history with the ancient Greeks. Pythagoras and Plato believed certain abstract, non-physical concepts or ideals existed outside of and independently of our physical world and are ‘uncaused’. These include things like numbers & mathematics (Pythagoras’ ‘forms’) and essences of things like ‘redness’ (Plato’s Forms). Parmenides simply argued that everything had a cause and ‘nothing could come from nothing’ and therefore existence itself had to be eternal and uncreated.
Read MoreAristotle observed that the world around him was in a state of constant flux – that everything was in motion all the time. He developed what has come to be known as the Cosmological Argument in Book 8 of Physics although elements that contribute to its understanding can be found throughout his writings especially Book 12 of Metaphysics.
Read MoreThomas Aquinas was a Catholic Priest, a Dominican Friar, that lived in Italy in the 13th Century. He was the best and most well-known philosopher in the Western Canon for 1,500 since the Ancient Greeks such as Aristotle and Plato in 300 B.C.
Read More2,500 years ago, around 525 B.C., Paremenides was one of the earliest great Greek philosophers. Pre-dating Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle by 200 years, his only known work is a poem entitled “On Nature” of which only fragrments survive.
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