1. THE
COSMOLOGICAL
ARGUMENT
PLAN

2. SECTION 1

3.  Cosmos = universe
 Aposteriori, inductive.
INTRO

4. KEY IDEAS
 Must accept universe is intelligible
 Must question universe
 God is supreme and requires no explanation, the universe
does.

5. AQUINAS – WAY 1, 2 & 3
 Motion = first mover
 Cause = first cause
 Contingency = creator.

6. LEIBNIZ
 Principle of sufficient reason
 “Nothing takes place without a sufficient reason”
 Known / unknown explanation for everything.

7. COPLESTON
 Some things in the world do not contain within themselves
the reason for their own existence
 The explanation is separate and outside of the world
 This is God.

8. KALAM / W. L. CRAIG
 Muslim scholars, 9th century
 WLC: “The Kalam Cosmological Argument
 Present cannot exist in an infinite universe.

9. SECTION 2

10. S - SCIENCE HAS NO
ALTERNATIVE
 Science has not yet discovered an alternative explanation.
 We live in a scientifically developed age…

11. S - LOGICAL AND
COHERENT
 Each step builds in the previous
 It is possible to either agree or disagree, not both.

12. S - RELATABLE
 We all experience the universe.

13. S - ANY / NO RELIGION
 The Kalam Argument proves this
 This makes it even more relatable.

14. W – FIRST PREMISE
FAILS
 If you don’t question the universe.
 Bertrand Russell – “Ultimate Brute Fact,” “Just there, and
that’s all,” C/R debate

15. W – NON-BELIEVERS?
 The argument raises more questions
 It is logically flawed and contradictory.

16. W – BBT COULD BE
WRONG
 It is only a theory
 The entire argument would then be wrong
 Oscillating universe.

17. W – DAVID HUME & I.
KANT
 Hume – we never experience causation, it is an illusion
born out of habit
 We cannot speculate about what we have never
experienced
 Kant – We cannot transcend the bounds of our
experience.