The History of the Cosmological Argument for the...

Early elements of the Cosmological Argument were developed by the world renowned philosophers Plato and Aristotle between the years 400 and 200 BC (Boeree). Medieval philosopher Saint Thomas Aquinas expanded upon their ideas in the late 13th Century when he wrote, â€Å"The Five Ways.† Since then the Cosmological Argument has become one of the most widely accepted and criticized arguments for the existence of God. My objective in this paper is to explain why the Cosmological Argument is a reasonable argument for the existence of God, the importance of understanding that it is an inductive a posteriori argument, and defend my position against common opposing arguments. To begin, as living human beings on the planet earth we can†¦show more content†¦This means that he relies only on himself to exist. On the other hand humans and all other natural things in the Universe are considered contingent. An impossibility would be created if this was not the case because a n on-contingent contingent would be created which is contradictory and not logical (Thompson, 1955, pp. 345-346). Contrary to Saint Thomas, Theodore Schick Jr. argues in, â€Å"The ‘Big Bang’ Argument for the Existence of God,† which is included in our text God, that not all things are caused. He points out that research in the area of quantum electrodynamics reveals, â€Å"†¦That an electron, positron, and photon occasionally emerge spontaneously in a perfect vacuum. When this happens, the three particles exist for a brief time, and then annihilate each other, leaving no trace behind† (God, 153). Schick’s argument against Saint Thomas argues is that since research has found evidence that—for a fraction of a millisecond—an electron, positron, and photon seem to appear on their own makes something in existence non-contingent. This effectively debunks Saint Thomas’ nearly 750 year old argument that all things in nature h ave a cause, right? Not necessarily. While this finding of modern scientific research cannot yet be refuted or overlooked, inductive experience still strongly supports the causal premise. Evidence of a cause behind all natural things stillShow MoreRelatedThe Argument Of The Existence Of God1480 Words   |  6 PagesThe arguments trying to â€Å"prove† the existence of God are by far some of the most controversial philosophical arguments out there. When some of the people who created these philosophies it was illegal or even punishable by death to even question his existence, let alone try to come up with a logical explanation to â€Å"prove† he is real. The two main arguments used today are the ontological argument and the cosmological argument. 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