Examine the key features of the cosmological argument for the existence of God St Thomas Aquinas, an influential philosopher, invented the cosmological arguments in the 13th Century

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Examine the key features of the cosmological argument for the existence of God

St Thomas Aquinas, an influential philosopher, invented the cosmological arguments in the 13th Century. He wrote them as part of his ‘five ways’ in his book ‘Summa Theologica’ however it was only the first three of these which are known as the cosmological argument, these are; the unmoved mover, the uncaused causer and the possibility and necessity. They are all posteriori synthetic inductive arguments, therefore they are based on proofs drawn from experience.

        The first of these three ways is the unmoved mover. Aquinas realised that everywhere we look things change state. When this occurs the object has moved from potentially changing to actually changing, however something must have caused this movement. Aquinas decided that there must be a first mover to cause this change, which he described as God. He realised that nothing can move itself, as nothing can be a mover and be moved; yet things are obviously in motion. He decided that an infinite chain of movers was imposable because it would have no beginning therefore no first mover. Aquinas therefore concluded that there must therefore be a first mover that caused motion in all things and this is God. Aquinas therefore believed that the ‘unmoved mover’ proved the existence of God because he believed e must be the initiator of all things.

        The second of Aquinas’ ways was the uncaused causer. Aquinas believed that all events require a cause and realised that the universe is an event, therefore he decided that God must have caused the universe. Aquinas believed in his theory because there must be a being without cause itself to bring all others into being, this he said was God.

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        The final cosmological theory was called possibility and necessity. Aquinas described anything with a property as a ‘being’. He believed that all beings including the universe were contingent as they had a beginning and an end. They also relied on something else for their own existence; an example of this is man relying on reproduction to continue the human race. However if all beings were contingent then there would have been a time when nothing existed. In which case there must be a necessary being which is dependent on nothing buts itself to bring all else into existence, to have ...

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