The Cosmological Argument is defeated by the fallacy of composition/“Cosmological arguments simply jump to the conclusion of a transcendent creator, without sufficient explanation.”/To what extent is a necessary God needed to explain the contingency of things in the universe?

What is the Cosmological Argument?

An a posteriori argument that infers God’s existence from features of the universe such as causation, motion and contingency

Which philosophers are most associated with the Cosmological Argument?

Aquinas and Leibniz

What is contingency?

The quality of depending on something else for existence

What is a necessary being?

A being whose existence is self-explanatory and cannot fail to exist?

What is Leibniz’s Principle of Sufficient Reason?

Everything must have an explanation for why it exists

Why does Leibniz argue a necessary being exists?

An infinite chain of contingent beings cannot explain its own existence

Why is a necessary being appealing philosophically?

It avoids the claim that reality exists for no reason

What is David Hume’s Fallacy of Composition criticism?

What is true of parts does not necessary apply to whole

How does the Fallacy of Composition challenge the Cosmological Argument?

Even if everything within the universe has a cause, the universe itself may not require one

What is Bertrand Russell's brute fact response?

The universe simply exists and requires no further explanation

Why does Russell reject the Cosmological Argument?

Unnecessarily seeks an explanation beyond the universe itself

What is Aquinas' Second Way?

The argument from efficient causation

Why does Aquinas reject infinite regress?

Without a first cause, no subsequent causes could exist

What phrase summarises Aquinas' reasoning?

Ex nihilo nihil fit (nothing comes from nothing)

How does the Kalam Cosmological Argument support Aquinas?

It argues whatever begins to exist must have a cause

What is Hume's criticism of infinite regress?

There is no logical contradiction in an infinite causal chain

What is special pleading?

Exempting God from the rules applied to everything else

How does special pleading challenge the Cosmological Argument?

If everything requires a cause, God should require one too

How does Russell use special pleading?

If God can exist necessarily, perhaps the universe can exist necessarily

How does the Big Bang challenge Aquinas?

It explains the universe's development without necessarily requiring God

What characteristics does Aquinas attribute to the First Cause?

Uncaused, eternal and independent

What was Copleston's main claim?

Contingent reality requires a necessary ground of being

Why does Hume reject identifying the First Cause with God?

The cause of the universe need not resemble the universe

How does Anthony Kenny criticise Aquinas?

His argument relies heavily on outdated Aristotelian physics

What is the strongest strength of the Cosmological Argument?

It offers an explanation for why contingent reality exists

What is the strongest weakness of the Cosmological Argument?

It fails to prove that the necessary being is the God of classical theism

What is the essay's overall judgement?

The argument makes belief in a necessary being plausible but does not conclusively establish the God of classical theism