The Cosmological Argument and Aquinas's Five Ways

Vocabulary flashcards covering the key terms, philosophical arguments, and criticisms related to the cosmological argument, Thomas Aquinas's Five Ways, Leibniz's Principle of Sufficient Reason, and criticisms by David Hume and Bertrand Russell.

Cosmological Argument

An empirical and a posteriori argument for the existence of God.

A Posteriori Knowledge

Knowledge that is gained through experience.

Inductive Argument

An argument that makes inferences based on evidence, where empirical evidence leads to probability as opposed to certainty.

Empirical Method

The process of using sensory experience and observation to gain knowledge about the world.

Principle of Sufficient Reason

A principle associated with Leibniz asserting that everything must have a cause or reason why no fact can hold and no proposition can be true unless there is a sufficient reason why it is so and not otherwise.

Aquinas' Five Ways

Thomas Aquinas's five arguments for God's existence: Motion (unmoved mover), Causation (uncaused cause), Contingency (necessary being), Gradation of goodness (cause of goodness and perfection), and Design (intelligent designer).

First Way (Motion)

Aquinas's argument observing that things move from potentiality to actuality and must be put into motion by something else, requiring a first unmoved mover.

Second Way (Causation)

Aquinas's argument observing that everything within the universe has a cause, and since an infinite chain of causes is impossible, there must be a first uncaused cause.

Third Way (Contingency)

Aquinas's argument observing that everything in the universe relies on something else for existence, meaning if all beings were contingent nothing would exist, requiring a necessary being.

Contingent Things

Things that depend on something else for their existence, have not always existed, and were created or caused by something else.

Necessary Being

A being that is necessarily existent, is not caused itself, and does not depend on anything else for its existence.

Logical Fallacy

A flaw in the logic of an argument.

Fallacy of Composition

A flaw in logic asserted by David Hume (and supported by Russel) stating that we cannot assume what is true of the part is necessarily true of the whole.