Questions

1. Briefly describe the cosmological argument in your own words.

2. Aquinas' argument presupposes that neither the notion of immediate causes, nor an infinite series of endless causes, makes sense. But is he right to do so? What is wrong with these views?

3. The "Third Way" relies on the assumption that "nothing can come from nothing" - but even if everything came from God, doesn't this leave God's existence unexplained?

4. The "Fourth Way" argues that all positive qualities - such as "goodness", "beauty", etc. - must exist in some source in the highest degree. But what about the worst qualities? Mustn't they also exist somewhere? Is this source God as well?

5. The "Fifth Way" states that everything must have some end or purpose - but is this really the case? What purpose might God give a tree? What problems might there be with this argument?

6. Like the teleological argument, the cosmological argument argues from the existence of certain qualities in the world to the existence of God. Think about what we can infer about the qualities of a cause from its effect - what problems might there be in this argument for the religious believer?

Aquinas

St. Thomas Aquinas' argument is similar to Plato's except that Aquinas concludes that the source of all motion must be God. Aquinas then goes on to give four other arguments which he claims point to the existence of God - these are called the Five Ways. The first, as already described, uses the idea of motion; the others are as follows:

Second way: Everything that exists must have a cause. There must have been a first cause that was not caused by anything else otherwise this process would go on for eternity. This first cause must be God.

Third Way: Everything that exists at one time did not and may not at some time in the future. However, at one time none of these things existed - there was nothing - but because "nothing can come from nothing" there must have been something whose existence was necessary (a being which had to exist). This being must be God.

Fourth Way: Things in the world have different qualities and degrees of perfection and goodness. There must be an ultimate in goodness and perfection. Therefore, God must exist as the source of these qualities.

Fifth Way: Everything in the world has some 'end' or 'purpose'. This purpose must come from an intelligent being and not chance. Therefore, God provides everything that exists with purpose.

Plato

Plato's argument is based on the idea that a thing cannot be self-moving. By this he means that if, for instance, we see a ball flying through the air, we must assume that something caused that ball to move. If we then say that the ball moved because it was hit by a bat, we can then ask what caused the bat to move - and so on infinitely.

From this Plato concludes that there must be some first cause of motion which is not itself the result of some other cause. For Plato, this was "Soul" or "Life", which gave motion to the whole world.

History

This argument - along with the previously discussed teleological argument - was first introduced by the Greek philosopher Plato (428-347 BC) in book X of the Laws.

It was later taken up by St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) who included it in his Five Ways (part of his Summa Theologica) where it represents the First Way of realising the existence of God.

Summary

The cosmological argument is based ultimately on the existence of the cosmos (hence the name) and its main gist is that for something to move it must first be caused to move by something else.

So, if we look at the world, Plato argues, there must be a first cause of all this motion - that is, something that set it all going. However, for this cause to be the ultimate one it must itself be unmoved by anything else (an unmoved or prime mover). This principle Plato called 'soul' or 'life'.