The Cosmological Argument

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The Cosmological Argument

• by Reid Goldsmith
• and Ben McAtee

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The Thomist argument

• Got its name from St. Thomas Aquinas
• Humans are finite, contingent beings
• Such beings cant exist on their own
• Must come from either an infinite number of
  predecessing finite beings or one necessary
  Being, a.k.a. God

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Man from Man from Man...

• An infinite regress of finite beings does not
  cause anything.
• Saying that there were infinite beings before
  does not prove anything about their beginning,
  leaving the finite without a definite beginning,
  which is impossible.
• Its like trying to get an orange by adding an
  infinite number of apples.
• Therefore, existence must be grounded on a
  necessary being.

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The Leibnizian Argument

• Named for Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz.
• Begins by asking the question, Why is there
  something rather than nothing?
• Uses the principle of sufficient reasoning to
  argue that the existence of God is logical and
  necessary.
• It is a logical contradiction to deny the
  statement God exists.

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Why Should We Believe in Sufficient Reason?

• Sufficient Reason for anything that exists,
  there must be some reason why it exists rather
  than not exists.
• If you take a broken car to the garage and the
  mechanic says theres nothing wrong with it, does
  it mean that theres nothing wrong with it or he
  doesnt know whats wrong with it?
• Simply saying, It is just because it is, is not
  sufficient. There must be a reason.

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Is a Beings Existence Necessary?

• Necessity is unimportant, because obviously, man
  exists.
• Because existence occurs, there must be some sort
  of explanation.
• You cannot deny the existence of a being,
  therefore you cannot deny the existence of a
  cause for the being and cannot argue against the
  need for a beings existence.

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Overview of the Kalam Argument
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Actual Infinity
Represented by the figure to the right a0-1
a0 a01 a0 a0-n a0 a0n a0 a0 a0 a0
a0
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More on Actual Infinity

• Actual infinity logically cannot exist because it
  creates irreconcilable paradoxes.
• If there were an actual infinite number of past
  events, then the earth wouldve revolved around
  the sun an infinite number of times. Now, if the
  moon revolves around the earth exactly 12 times
  for every one revolution the earth makes around
  the sun, then it shouldve revolved around earth
  more times than the earth revolved around the
  sun. If actual infinity were any other number,
  it would be true. However, because of the nature
  of an actual infinite set, no matter how much you
  increase an actual infinite set, it will always
  be equal to all other actual infinite sets.

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Potential Infinity

• A potential infinite increases its number through
  time
• A potential infinite is always finite
• A potential infinite can never become an actual
  infinite.

lim1/n ?
n ? 0
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Kalam First Premise and First Argument

• Since an actual infinite cannot exist, then there
  is a finite number of past events in this
  universe.
• If there is a finite number of past events, at
  some point, there was no universe
• Therefore, there must have been a beginning to
  our universe

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Kalam First Premise and Second Argument

• Even if an actual infinite could exist, it is
  impossible to traverse an actual infinite
• If there are an actual infinite number of points
  between point Z and point Y, then it would take
  infinite time to traverse that segment
• The argument from nature of causal sequences
  helps us to understand this phenomenon.

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Argument from Causal Sequences

• Imagine, if you will, a helicopter flying over
  your head. How did it get there?
• Youre thinking too hard.
• Heres how it got there. The pilot got into the
  helicopter. The pilot getting into the
  helicopter is the direct cause of the helicopter
  flying over your head.
• The fact that there is a causal relationship
  between the pilot getting in the chopper and the
  chopper flying over your head means that there
  are specific instances in the past that you can
  determine, thus proving that there isnt an
  actual infinite number of past events.

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Infinite past events, no history

• Your birthday was a historical event.
• If there have been an infinite number of past
  events, you have been born an infinite number of
  times.
• More simply, say you have a chicken, and it lays
  an egg. If there were an infinite number of
  events, what came first, the chicken or the egg?
• You have a dot, and it is the only object in your
  universe. Periodically it changes from red to
  blue. Given an infinite number of past events,
  did it start out being red or blue?

--example provided by Mr. Patterson
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More on Actual Infinite

• Because of the properties of an actual infinite,
  if there are a0 points between Y and Z, then
  there are a0 points between point A and point B.
• Logically, an actual infinite cannot be
  traversed.
• If an actual infinite cannot be traversed, then
  the universe had a beginning

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The Big Bang theory

• In 1920, Astronomer Edwin Hubble discovered the
  Red Shift.
• The red shift proves the universe is expanding
• If the universe is expanding, it must have had a
  starting point. Hence, the universe had a
  beginning.
• The big bang theory states that this beginning
  was a giant explosion from an infinitesimal point.

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Second law of Thermodynamics

• The Second law defines Entropy as either energy,
  disorder, or information.
• The second law states that Entropy is always
  increasing in the universe.
• If the universe had not had a beginning, we would
  have reached an equilibrium of disorder right
  now, the universe being completely in disorder.
  We would all be a bunch of quarks and mesons
  flying around in a soup of energy. But, since
  that hasnt happened, then the universe had a
  beginning.

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Kalaam Premise 2 The Beginning of the Universe
was Caused

• Because the universe began to exist, its logical
  to assume it was caused.
• Something does not come from nothing without a
  cause.
• Events have a definite beginning and end and do
  not happen without something causing them.

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God Needed no Cause Because He had no Beginning

• God does not need a cause, because He is neither
  an event or a contingent being.
• Because God is a necessary being, He does not
  need a cause.
• Asking for a cause for God is illogical. Its
  asking for a cause for an uncaused Being.

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Arguments against cause and no cause reasoning

• Quantum mechanics says that there is an ultimate
  indeterminacy in nature at the subatomic level.
• Law of cause and effect doesnt hold, events
  occur without a cause and something can come from
  nothing.

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Two Arguments Against Quantum Mechanics

• 1 Not all physicists agree on how to interpret
  quantum mechanics.
• Some say that entities in the quantum theories
  should be treated in non-realistic terms.
• Nature isnt really indeterminate, we just dont
  cant understand causes of quantum phenomena.

• 2 Not all physicists agree on how to interpret
  quantum mechanics.
• Theres no definite way to think of it, so not
  many people put trust in it anyway.
• The law of cause and effect is well-established
  and understood. The burden of proof falls on
  those disputing the known

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So.

• Even if the beginning being something from
  nothing were logically possible, its still
  physically impossible
• There is therefore no reason to deny what we
  witness every day events have causes.
• The beginning, being an event, must have had a
  cause.

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Kalaam Premise 3 The Cause for the Universe was
Personal

• The cause had to either be personal or
  impersonal.
• Prior to the universe, there was a state of no
  time, no space, and no change of any kind.
• The conditions for the beginning were either
  existent from all eternity in a state of
  immutability, or they had to come to be.

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So What is the First Event?

• If the conditions had to come to be, then that in
  itself was the first event.
• This couldnt be because before the initial
  universe, there was no order and no change.
• The only way to avoid the first event being
  uncaused is to say that conditions existed in a
  timeless, changeless state.

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And

• If this was an impersonal beginning, then when
  the cause existed, the effect would have taken
  place, simply because all the conditions were in
  their proper place.
• If there is no waiting, then an infinite cause
  would have caused an infinite effect. This goes
  back to the universe being infinite.

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The Cause had to be Personal

• The only way the first event could have come
  spontaneously from a timeless, changeless state
  is to be caused by a free act of a person or
  agent, meaning it was created on purpose.
• You can raise your arm if conditions are right,
  but conditions dont cause it. Its an act of
  free will.

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To Sum it all Up

• Its not logical to believe that the beginning of
  the universe was caused by a timeless, impersonal
  act or force.
• This doesnt prove that the universe was created
  by the God of the Bible, but it does show that
  were in need of some supreme, necessary being
  who was our cause.

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The End