The major features of the Cosmological Argument.
In this essay I am going to explore the major features of the cosmological argument. The cosmological argument is an argument which states the universe is not explicable without reference to causes and factors outside itself. Although the cosmological argument was famously expressed as one of Thomas Aquinas' Five Ways (rational arguments for the existence of God) it is grounded in the Greek metaphysics of Plato and Aristotle. Both argued that the fact of motion (i.e. things move) requires a mover ('. the series must start with something for nothing can come from nothing' (Aristotle)). The key ideas are 'contingency' and 'necessity'. To say of something that it exists is to also point to other factors that have influenced (and caused) it to exist. For example, to say that the computer I am currently using to write these words on exists it to say that the materials, machinery and people by which is constructed and made, also exist. If they had not then this computer would not exist.
The major features of the cosmological argument are.
• The universe is contingent .
• Things come into existence because something has caused.
them to happen.
• Things are caused to exist, but they do not have to exist.
• There is a chain of causes that goes back to the beginning.
of time.
• Time began with the creation of the universe.
• The universe came into existence about 15 billion years.
ago.
• There must have been a first cause, which brought the.
universe into existence.
• This first cause must have necessary existence to cause the.
contingent universe.
• God has necessary existence.
• Therefore God is first cause of the contingent universe's.
existence.
The cosmological argument has taken many forms and has.
been presented in many ways. In each form, the argument.
focuses upon the causes that lead to the existence of things.