1.6.

4 The Cosmological Argument

Textbook Reference:
Book A
3.1.6 The Cosmological Argument

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 What is Cosmological arguments?
• It is an argument to proof the existence of God
• “Cosmo” = the universe
• “Cosmological argument” = argument to explain why is there an universe
• St. Thomas Aquinas put forward the classic form of the argument in
three ways (see below) to prove God’s existence in his work Summa
Theologica

1. The way of 2. The way of 3. The way of

motion causation contingency
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 What is Cosmological arguments?
LAW OF CAUSE AND EFFECT

There must be a first cause that is Not-caused (Necessary)→ we called him GOD
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Infinite regress
• a sequence of reasoning that can never come to an end

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 Content of the argument (Simplified)
1. There are things that are in Motion/ Caused/ Contingent

2.These things require something else to move/cause/create them

3. This chain of movement/ causation/ contingency can’t go back forever

(i.e. NO infinite regress of motion/ causes/ contingent)

4. → There must be a first mover/ first cause/ uncreated being

5. The only of producing such effect is an eternal and omnipotent GOD

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 Way 1: The Way of Motion
• He argued that things in the universe are in motion, but nothing can
move unless it is moved by something else:
• ‘But this cannot go on to infinity because then there would be no
first mover, and, consequently, no other mover … Therefore it is
necessary to arrive at a first mover, moved by no other; and this
everyone understands to be God.’

An analogy is when you suggest a likeness to

something else.
“reasoning from a parallel case”
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 A goods Train
• Each wagon is caused to move by the wagon that is pulling it.
• Although each wagon is caused to move by another wagon
• The whole process can only be explained if there is an engine that is
not moved by something in front but is “an unmoved mover’.
• In the same way, the process seen in the world – of things being
caused or moved by something else – can only be explained if there
is an Unmoved Mover causing it all to happen and this could only be
God.

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 Way 2: The Way of causation
• He argued that everything seems to have cause and there
no example of anything causing itself.
• However, there must be a “first efficient cause” otherwise
there could not be the effect of the universe; and this first
efficient cause is given the name God.

Dominoes
https://youtu.be/vDy2xWpZWVc
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 The cosmological argument is like a row of
dominoes when one is pushed over.
• If one domino fell it would knock another domino over, and that in
turn would knock another domino over, and so on.
• The first domino would not spontaneously fall over on its own.
• The first domino could not knock itself over setting off a chain
reaction causing all the other dominoes to fall.
• Things do not just happen unless something cause them to happen.

In a similar way, unless the universe suddenly decided to start, it is reasonable for us to think
that before the universe began there was something that began it all.
The cosmological argument says that that something was God.
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 Way 3: The Way of contingency
• All material things are contingent, that is their existence is
not necessary and at one time they did not exist.
• However, if everything is contingent, then at one time
nothing existed; but things do exist, therefore there must be
a non-contingent being whose existence is necessary so it
has always been in existence; and everyone would call this
God.

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 Summary of the arguments
The way of motion The way of causation The way of contingency
• Things in the universe are in • Everything within the universe • All material things are contingent (
motion, but nothing can move seems to have a cause according = their existence is not necessary)
unless it is moved by something to human experience; no example • If everything is contingent, then
else of anything causing itself at one time nothing existed; but
• There cannot be an infinite • There cannot be an infinite things do exist.
regress of movements→ regress of causes • They must be a non-contingent
otherwise, no first mover and no • There must be a first efficient being whose existence is
other mover cause of the process of causes necessary
• There must be a first mover • → Understand to be an eternal • →Understand to be an eternal
• And that is understand to be the and omnipotent God and omnipotent God
omnipotent God • as every event within the universe
has a cause, the universe as a
whole must have a cause
• the only cause capable of
producing such an effect is God

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 Modern form of cosmological argument
• Cause and effect seem to be a basic feature of the world. Whatever
we do has an effect.
• If I do my homework, I will please my parents. If I do not do my
homework, I will annoy my parents.

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 Single causes of an effect
• Modern science developed through looking at causes and effects and,
in particular, looking for single causes of an effect, for example
increases in heart rate.
• Just as my parents’ happiness may be caused by things other than my
doing of homework, so the increase in someone’s heart rate may be
caused by things other than exercise.
• When scientists try to discover the cause of an increase in heart rate,
they try to reduce all the variables so that a single cause can
identified.
• Science seems to show that when investigated sufficiently, any effect
has a cause and any cause has an effect.
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• Anything caused to exist must be caused to exist by
something else.
• To cause your own existence, you would have to exist before
you exist, which is nonsense.
• You can keep going back with causes because in any causal
chain you have to have a beginning.

there cannot be
an infinite regress of
causes
• So, if the universe has no first cause, then there
would be no universe, but as there is a universe,
there must be a first cause.
• The only possible first cause of the universe is God,
therefore God must exist.
 Nothing comes from Nothing
• The universe does exist.
• So how did the universe come from nothing?
• There must be something that made the universe happen.
• That something is God.

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 The significance of Cosmological Argument
for Christians
Christians are able to understand that:
• God is the origin of everything:
• He is the unmoved mover,
• He is the first cause,
• He is the non-contingent being.
• God is BOTH within and beyond the universe: a different order
entirely.
• God is the source of all being.
• Thus, he has no beginning or end.
• God is infinite and eternal.
• The laws of cause and effect stop with this material universe.
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 God

An Immanent God A Transcendent God

cannot be
is independent of presented
exists within is active in human whose presence is beyond
the universe physically
us and within affairs and the can be perceived perception
the universe working of the immediately and
universe personally

God is a mystery.
 Why do religious people (aka Theist) support
the Cosmological Argument?
• It is logical
• as there are many evidence of causation found from their own experience when they
look around the world
• The belief in infinite regress is not possible
• It is supported by scripture and the writings of religious leaders like St.
Thomas Aquinas, which makes this argument convincing and true
• It provides an explanation for the universe that is compatible with science
• Scientific discoveries, eg the Big Bang theory, can be seen to support the first cause
argument. If God caused the 'Big Bang', then God is the 'first cause' that brought the
cosmos (universe) into existence.
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Atheist or Agnostics are not convinced by Cosmological
Arguments as a proof of the existence of God
• The argument from causation does not prove that God exists
because:
• If everything needs a cause then God must also need a cause. Why
should the process have to stop with God?
• It is possible that matter itself is eternal and so was never created.
That would mean that there would be no need for a first cause
because the process of causes could go back forever.

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Atheist or Agnostics are not convinced by Cosmological
Arguments as a proof of the existence of God
• Just because everything in the universe needs an explanation does not
mean the universe itself needs an explanation. The universe could just
have been there forever.
• Even if there was a first cause, unmoved mover or non-contingent being, it
would not have to be the Christian God, it could be the God of any religion.
• There is no need for a first cause, unmoved mover or non-contingent being
to be good. It could be evil, a mixture of good and evil, and so on.

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 Catholic responses
• Although the Catholic Church recognises the atheist position, it
believes
• To say that the Big Bang and the entire universe “just happened” is
more unbelievable than to say that it was designed and created by
God.
• The universe is too vast and complex, and works according to too many
laws to have just appeared by chance. There must be a reason for the
universe being here.
• Humans are preciously unique individuals with an immortal soul. The
Church teaches that the immortal soul cannot be pinned down,
observed or measured by science.
• Our immortal soul is a sign that the universe is more than the material
and that it is much deeper than physical laws, and it can only be
explained by God.
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 Past Exam Questions
• God caused the world to exist.
• Explain why some religious people might support the argument from
causation.
• Outline beliefs about causation as an argument for the existence of
God.
• Explain how evidence of causation in the world may lead to, or
support, belief in God.