What Is The Cosmological Argument For God's Existence
Aquinas’ Cosmological Ways
Introduction
Thomas Aquinas is a medieval scholar who wrote the five cosmological arguments that support the existence of God. A cosmological argument is an argument that supports the existence of God and that everything that exists was caused by something else. One of Aquinas’ ways to prove God’s existence is through the argument of possibility and necessity. He argues that there must be a first necessary being to set the chain of causes in motion which results in the universe today.
Summary of the Argument The argument is based off of the fact that things exist. He starts off with the assumption that all things are contingent. The definition of contingent is “occurring or existing only if certain other circumstances are the case. Dependent on.” Aquinas says that things can be brought into existence and also taken out of existence. He argues that if all things do not exist all the time, then there was a point in time where nothing existed at all. He means that since the existence of a certain object was caused by another event or object, the causes creating these things could go back in time all the way to the first cause, which he claims is the first necessary being. If these things are contingent, only other …show more content…
If this was possible, it would require something to exist before the time it existed which does not make sense in the order of time. He also explains that things are only brought into existence because some other external cause or a chain reaction of causes. So, how did necessary being come into existence? Why was the first necessary being there? How could it cause itself into being when all other things need to be brought into existences by another cause? This implies that either the first necessary cause/ being has always been there or that the first necessary being existed before it existed to bring itself into existence. He also says that if all
Introduction
Thomas Aquinas is a medieval scholar who wrote the five cosmological arguments that support the existence of God. A cosmological argument is an argument that supports the existence of God and that everything that exists was caused by something else. One of Aquinas’ ways to prove God’s existence is through the argument of possibility and necessity. He argues that there must be a first necessary being to set the chain of causes in motion which results in the universe today.
Summary of the Argument The argument is based off of the fact that things exist. He starts off with the assumption that all things are contingent. The definition of contingent is “occurring or existing only if certain other circumstances are the case. Dependent on.” Aquinas says that things can be brought into existence and also taken out of existence. He argues that if all things do not exist all the time, then there was a point in time where nothing existed at all. He means that since the existence of a certain object was caused by another event or object, the causes creating these things could go back in time all the way to the first cause, which he claims is the first necessary being. If these things are contingent, only other …show more content…
If this was possible, it would require something to exist before the time it existed which does not make sense in the order of time. He also explains that things are only brought into existence because some other external cause or a chain reaction of causes. So, how did necessary being come into existence? Why was the first necessary being there? How could it cause itself into being when all other things need to be brought into existences by another cause? This implies that either the first necessary cause/ being has always been there or that the first necessary being existed before it existed to bring itself into existence. He also says that if all