Explain Aquinas cosmological argument for the existence of God. Humes criticisms alone completely discredit the cosmological argument Discuss.

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Georgia Nicoll

Explain Aquinas’ cosmological argument for the existence of God

The Cosmological Argument has several forms, but is fundamentally a proof for the existence of the God of classical theism. It seeks to respond to the human need for answers to questions like “who created the universe?”. The word ‘cosmos’ refers to the universe as an ordered, harmonious and holistic entity. Aquinas stated that nothing comes from nothing; the universe exists, so something must have made it – that can only be God. Thomas Aquinas developed this argument which the ancient Greeks also used for the existence of God. He began in the natural world of the senses and reasoned from it, making this an a posteriori argument.

The final work of Aquinas was his Summa Theologiae which summed up his idea of theology demonstrating the existence of God known as the Five Ways of which three are cosmological; they are the First Cause Argument, the Prime Mover Argument and the Argument from Contingency. Aquinas’s argument started with the first way: motion. Aquinas believed that everything in existence is in motion or has the potential to change, for example, humans develop, grow old and die. In Aquinas’ way of thinking, you cannot be both potentially and actually the same thing at the same time, for example it makes no sense to talk of a cup of coffee being potentially hot when it is actually hot, and as another example, wood has the potential to be made into something or to be burnt. Aquinas said all change is caused by something, “It is necessary to arrive at a first mover, put in motion by no other; and this everyone understands to be God”. Here Aquinas means that nothing can move of its own accord therefore there has to be a prime mover and that must be God.  Aristotle argued that planetary motion, which he believed caused the seasons to change, required an unmoved mover who would maintain the order of things in the midst of this. Therefore, Aquinas used this notion to speak of the sustaining work of God. God made sure the world and the universe remained the same, but was also behind the changes which led to the years passing by without any problem.

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The second way of Aquinas is to do with causation and that nothing is an efficient cause of itself. Aquinas believes cause and effect are natural in our world and that whatever happens is caused by something else. It would be illogical to say something can cause itself because that means it was there before it began, “It is necessary to admit a first efficient cause to which everyone gives the name of God”, therefore there needs to be a first cause – that is God. It is not possible for the efficient cause to go back to infinity, ...

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