Therefore, there must have existed a first mover independent of anything else, this being God – the prime mover. The Kalam cosmological argument is an Islamic argument that tries to prove there is a cause for the existence of the world. It believes that everything that begins to exist has a cause of its existence. The universe began to exist therefore; the universe has a cause for its existence. The Muslims who initiated the kalam cosmological argument believe that it is obvious that God is the cause for the universe and so they do not look for evidence instead they believe God simply is the answer.
He also says there are a chain of causes and effects leading back to the beginning of the Universe. He did not believe in infinite regress, and so, for him, there had to be a first cause, and that first cause has to be God. Aquinas’ Cosmological argument has many positive points which could be used to prove the existence of God, and his argument is both logical and convincing. However, I believe there are some major flaws within it, and I hope to use these flaws to show that Aquinas’ Cosmological argument does not prove the existence of a God. The first point to Thomas Aquinas’ Cosmological argument is about Motion.
Anselm’s argument is based on the idea that anyone who hears about God or thinks about God, has an idea of who God is. Even if a person denies the existence of God, he or she have to accept that God at least exists in a persons understanding, as an idea. Anselm argues that there is therefore the possibility of God existing purely in the mind alone, or alternatively in the mind and also in reality. Anselm defined God as “that…which nothing greater can be conceived”, he is all powerful, all-loving and all-knowing. Central to Anselm’s argument is the belief that it is greater to exist than not exist, and if God is the greatest-possible being, then by definition, God must exist.
Aquinas split the cosmological into three separate parts, three ways that he used to argue for God’s existence. The first argument for the existence of God from the cosmological argument is motion. This argument states that everything in existence is in motion or has the potential to change. This must mean that the change or motion has to be caused by something, must be initiated by something. Therefore, Aquinas concluded, there must be a first mover, an unmoved mover which starts the motion, and that this must be God.
Compare the concept of a Prime Mover with the idea of God as a Craftsman The concept of a Prime Mover was thought of by Aristotle who suggested there was a God because of the way things exist in the universe. Aristotle said that the chain of cause and effect cannot go on forever so there must have been something that started off this chain, he argued that there must have been an uncaused first cause that started off this chain of events, he said that this was the Prime Mover. The idea of God as a Craftsman suggests that God designed the universe in this specific way and it was not random at all. Genesis 1 and 2 portray God as a craftsman with a clear plan as to how he was going to create the world in six days. The repetition of the words ‘And God said’, ‘And it was so’, ‘And God saw it was good’ show that God is a craftsman who was very much aware of what he was creating; it is said that this God is omnipotent.
He therefore comes to the conclusion that there must be a first mover that was not put in motion by something else, and states that this unmoved mover is understood to be God. God is therefore purely in an actual state. The second argument is very similar to the first one which is why they are so often grouped together. Aquinas states that nothing causes itself, and that all efficient causes follow an order however this cannot go on to infinity as there would be no first efficient cause. He therefore concludes that a first uncaused cause is necessary and this cause we know as God.
Paley believed that no one else would have been intelligent enough to create the order and complexity of the universe. Aquinas also argues the point that the order and purpose of the world proves that there must be a designer behind it. He believed that God was the answer to the unexplainable and that all natural bodies act for an end. An example for
It was originally called fides quaerens intellectum (faith seeking understanding). ‘For I do not seek to understand that I believe, but I believe in order to understand’ – Proslogion 1. Anselm defined god as ‘that than which no greater can be conceived’. This is a priori accepted (no evidence). He then goes on to say that it is always greater to exist in reality (in re) than just in the mind (in intellectu).
Explain Anselms ontological argument Part A The ontological argument is used as a rational explanation to support the existence of God. Anselms ontological argument is known as a “classic “explanation of the ontological argument and is used widely to support the existence of God. The ontological argument is a priori argument meaning that theories are developed to prove the existence of God using nothing but intellectual insight and reason: it does not depend upon our experience of the world to be verified. Anselm defines God by saying God is that “which nothing greater can be conceived.” A way to simplify this explanation is thinking of God as being the greatest thing there can be, i.e. defining God as maximal perfection, there literally cannot be anything greater than God as God is the greatest thing that can possibly exist.
Our senses prove that some things are in motion. What is in motion must be put in motion by another and that by another again. This cannot go on to infinity. Therefore, there must be at the head of the series of movers, a being that is itself unmoved and that is the source of all movement. This prime mover is God.