The Cosmological Argument for the Existence of God: Examining First Causes and Motion - Essay Sample

Introduction

The existence of God has been an essential topic of discussion among various scholars. Those profess to a religion that believes in a deity. There has been much debate on the explanation and the justification of the existence of God. These debates for and against God's presence can be categorized as subjective, metaphysical, scientific, empirical, or logical. Religion does not necessarily mean a belief in a deity as it has many interpretations. The various arguments that exist on the of God do not specifically identify one as religious. This is because it speaks to the specific attitude a person or a group of people hold towards the actuality of a deity.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

The Cosmological Argument

The cosmological argument is one of the major forms of argument in defense of the existence of God. It is one of the proofs based on reason. It proceeds with the consideration of the existence of a physical universe. Like a natural scientist, Aristotle believed that the world, as we know it, could be studied and learned through observation. As an entomologist might catalog and observe a certain insect in an attempt to understand and gain insight into the existence of that specific insect, so did Aristotle's belief that the world surrounding us could be studied to get a full comprehension of the world. The reliance on observation and data and observation can be summarized by the term cosmological. The nun cosmos is a simple meaning of how the order of things exists, and the term logos is a suggestion of how something is studied. In this case, a cosmological argument studies how things are how they appear to demonstrate God's existence.

The existence of the universe as we know it needs an explanation since there is no way that it would have come from nothing. The universe needs to have a cause since nothing comes from nothing. In this case, the world and all that exists in it is something, and hence it must have come from something that is its cause. The infinite progression of cause is ruled out due to the conclusion of the fact that there must be a first cause of the movement. The same scenario applies to the motion cause since there must have been an initiator of the movement. From these shortcomings of arguments of the first cause and movement, it is evident that there is a necessary being (God).

According to Saint Thomas Aquinas, who was a Christian theologian, came up with the cosmological arguments. According to him, five related arguments are perceived dependent on natural logic and law and order of the cosmos that is perceived. The arguments are similar and are based on the ideas of the source of harmony, the first cause, the cause of excellence, the First Mover, and the sustainer. From these arguments, we understand that there exists a series of events in the universe, and they exist as caused. This leads us to the conclusion there is an existence of a supernatural being (God) that is the cause of the whole series of movements.

Argument from Motion

All the things that are observable in the world have been set in motion. Logically, nothing has set itself in motion. According to Aquinas, this is an observation, according to his first argument, among the five proofs of argument. This argument works from an assumption that if an object is set in motion, then it was put in motion by something else. Suppose an endless chain existed among things-in-motion and things-causing-things-to-be-in-motion. In that case, we could not justify the observable motion. If we try to trace the cause of a certain motion, then the train would be infinite to causes of motion that caused a motion. The tracing of the point of movement would be like looking for the first point in a line. Getting to the first point would be hard, yet we know it must exist for the second point to exist. There must be a first cause that sets things in motion, and to avoid infinite regression, the first cause of motion must have been uncaused.

To understand the motion that we observe, it is necessary to claim that the unmoved Mover (God) must have been the cause of all the things and the ones that set the others in motion. The concept of actuality and potentiality also improves our knowledge of the existence of God. This is because substances strive from an incomplete state through the harshest conditions to a complete state where they are fully developed and bask in the full glory. This magnificent expansion and growth of things showcase how there is a deity (God) that ensures all things are taken care of. Different philosophers have marveled at the secret of creation, explaining that it is due to the infinite progression. However, the level of design that was put into some of these things like the marvels of a plant, or the human body shows the sign of God who carefully and wonderfully created the earth and its inhabitants.

Argument from Contingency

In this argument, everything in the world can be classified as a contingency or a necessity. Not every being in the world can be contingent. Hence, this means that there exists a superior being on which all contingent beings rely on. God is the necessary being that all the contingent things in the world rely on. This reliance on contingents on a necessary being is proof of the existence of God.

The argument from contingency is a development of the older cosmological argument. Many philosophers consider it superior even though it has its share of criticisms. Among its weaknesses is the fallacy of composition. It is considered that all members of dependent beings are accounted for under one being. This form of argument is not viewed as possible. However, it is a true definition of an existing God that created and runs the whole universe. Some maintain that there is no sufficient reason that justifies the existence of a self-existing being (God). Since there is no logical explanation that explains the whole series of human beings, there must be a form of deity that caused it. This is because the universe exists, and it must have a cause because just ass the rule states, everything that exists must have a cause. This means that the cause of the universe is God since He is the unmoved Mover that set the other things in motion.

Conclusion

As we know it, the universe is the true definition of God, who pushed things into existence. There have been arguments that the world started on its own through infinite motions. The cosmological argument has attempted to justify God's existence, with scholars giving a clear explanation of why they support the existence of a deity. The argument from motion gave a clear hint that everything we see in the universe is in motion. Nothing would have started a move without being pushed by a supernatural being. The argument from contingency explains how contingent beings rely on God. In theory, these arguments set a clear path and field of study vital in explaining God's undoubtedly existence.

Bibliography

Deng, Duen-Min. "A new cosmological argument from grounding." Analysis, (2019).

Kalmanofsky, Amy. Gender-play in the Hebrew Bible: the ways the Bible challenges its gender norms. Vol. 2. Taylor & Francis, 2016.

Loke, Andrew Ter Ern. God and Ultimate Origins: A Novel Cosmological Argument. Springer, 2017.

Perry, Samuel L. "The Bible as a Product of Cultural Power: The Case of Gender Ideology in the English Standard Version." Sociology of Religion 81, no. 1 (2020): 68-92.

Steffen, Tom, and William Bjoraker. The Return of Oral Hermeneutics: As Good Today As It Was for the Hebrew Bible and First-Century Christianity. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2020.

Wahlberg, Mats. "A Cosmological Argument against Physicalism." European Journal for Philosophy of Religion 9, no. 2 (2017): 165-188.