Apologetics: Unit 4a (Intro to Natural Theology, 5 Cosmological Arguments, and the Cosmic Origins film, + related material)

Natural Theology

the knowledge we can have about God and his attributes by applying reason to observation of the universe and our own inner experience, without recourse to divine revelation

Philosophy

reasoning from effect (observed) back to cause (not observed)

Efficient cause

the agent or thing that brings something about or changes something

Material cause

that from which a thing is (made)

Formal cause

the essence or nature of a thing, or what KIND of thing it is (e.g., structure, design, arrangement, shape, appearance)

Final cause

the ultimate end, reason, or purpose for a thing

Act (in philosophy)

the *current* state of something, or what it is *now*.

Potency (in philosophy)

a possible *future* state of something (rather than what it already is)

Principal/Primary cause

a cause that causes (directly or indirectly) all effects, but did not itself need to be caused

Instrumental/Secondary cause

an ability possessed by *creatures* to cause effects

Cosmology

the study of the origin, development, and structure of the universe, including time & space

Cosmological Argument

an argument for the existence of God that has as a premise something that is directly observed in the universe (as opposed to something we only experience within ourselves)

Infinite regress

the idea that there is no first cause in an unending line of causes extending into the past

Reductio ad absurdum

proving the falsity of a premise by showing that its logical consequence is absurd or contradictory

Atheism

the belief that there is no god

Agnosticism

the belief that God's existence cannot be known

Law of the Excluded Middle

a proposition is either true or not true; there is no 3rd option (X or ~X)

Principle of Sufficient Reason

everything that comes into existence needs an explanation -- some adequate reason why it is (i.e., it has a cause)

Motion

change of any kind (not just change of place/location/locomotion)

Contingent

describes anything that: (a) comes into being and passes out of being; (b) could not be; (c) doesn't carry within itself the reason for its own existence

Necessary

describes anything that: (a) exists by its very nature and cannot not be (or must be); (b) can explain its own existence without reference to another being

Design

evidence of order, purpose, and complexity

Anthropic Principle

states that the fine tuning of the physical laws of the universe/nature makes possible the beginning of life

Principle of Causality

you can't get more in the effect than you had in the cause; if there is intelligence in the effect (man), there must be intelligence in the cause (a mind behind the physical universe)

The Big Bang Theory

the standard scientific cosmological theory for the origin and early development of the universe. According to this theory, the universe was once in an extremely dense, hot state from which it rapidly expanded and cooled.

Entropy

lack of order or predictability; state of disorder

Ontology

the study of the nature of being

Metaphysics

the study of the fundamental nature of reality and being; including ontology, cosmology, and epistemology

Fr. Georges LeMaitre

Belgian priest and astronomer who is the Father of the Big Bang Theory, because he pointed out that the expanding universe implied an initial state of the universe in a condensed condition, which he called the primeval atom.

Red shift

when light from an object moving away from one's observation point appears more red to the observer (this phenomenon is seen in galaxies moving away from us, and it provides evidence for the Big Bang)

Doppler effect

an analogue of red shift, but for sound; when sound moves closer to the listener, its pitch goes up, but when the sound moves away, its pitch goes down

2nd Law of Thermodynamics

informally, nature moves from order to disorder; formally, the total entropy (disorder) of an isolated (or closed) system can never decrease over time

Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) Radiation

an almost uniformly distributed radiation permeating the universe that is leftover from the early history of the universe -- energy that never reacted with matter (provides evidence for a cosmic event like the Big Bang)

Multiverse

the theoretical, metaphysical speculation that an infinite number of universes might exist.

Penrose's number

The probability of the universe's entropy being as low as it was at the time of the Big Bang by chance ... [1 / (10^(10^123))]

Edwin Hubble

American astronomer famous for ascertaining the existence of other galaxies besides the Milky Way and for providing the evidence for an expanding universe. (see "red shift")

Teleology

the study of design or purpose in natural phenomena