Cosmological Argument- Basic essay plan layout
INTRODUCTION
* One of the oldest arguments for the existence of God * Based on experience that everything has a cause- a poseriori * Its premises are drawn from experience, not from analytical truths, and reach an inductive conclusion, that is, one which may possibly be correct, but is not logically necessary * It moves on the assumption that the universe must have a first cause – a priori * Originates from the thinking of Aristotle and Plato * The concept of a primary mover had already been identified by the ancients, who had observed that where there is an effect there needs to be a cause, but it was Aquinas who attributed the role of first cause to the God of classical theism * Most important advocate= Thomas Aquinas * Came up with 5 ways – first 3 form the cosmological 1. The argument from an unmoved mover 2. The argument from an uncaused cause 3. The argument from possibility to necessity
AQUINAS’ FIRST WAY * Aquinas observes that ‘in the world some things are in motion’ and that ‘whatever is moved is moved by another’ * If an infinite chain of movers were postulated then no first mover would be necessary, but Aquinas rejects that supposition, since an infinite chain with no beginning can have no intermediate or final mover in the chain * Everything that moves is moved by something else * The moved is moved by something else * The chain however cannot be infinite e.g. dominoes(someone must have pushed the first domino to create the chain of movement) * Therefore there must be an unmoved mover * Aquinas concluded that the unmoved mover is dependent upon the first mover who he suggests ‘everyone understands to be God’

AQUINAS’ SECOND WAY * Everything has a cause * Every cause has a cause * There cannot be an infinite number of causes * Therefore there must be an uncaused cause * Which T.A concluded to be God * Again T.A rejects the possibility of an infinite chain of causes since such a chain will have no first cause and