Cosmological Arguments The Existance Of God Essay

Cosmological Arguments- The Existance Of God Essay, Research Paper

A cosmological argument is meant to explain the existence of the physical universe. The arguments are supposed to be sound deductive arguments, meaning that the premises lead to evidence, which prove the conclusion to be an absolute truth. The two major cosmological arguments attempt to explain the existence of God. They are the CAUSAL argument and the Contingency argument. There are few differences between the two arguments and there are problems with both. Many of the problems with one can be easily associated with the other. Since the CAUSAL argument was the first argument to exist I believe that the Contingency argument is simply an improvement of the CAUSAL argument. However, the contingency argument better explains the existence of a necessary being, God.

The CAUSAL argument states that there are things that came into existence and that everything in the world that exists or has existed is caused by something else, which leads to another cause. But these causes cannot explain each other forever, and therefore there must be a first uncaused cause. This first uncaused cause is supposed to be God. The causal argument tries to demonstrate that God exists because the notion of infinity is impossible and that there must have been a beginning. This beginning is the first uncaused cause leading to the world s existence.

The Contingency argument is slightly different from the CAUSAL argument. It answers the question why is there a universe. The basis of the argument is that there is a contingent universe meaning that the universe s existence is dependant of another being. It includes the Principle of Sufficient Reason, which states that every being or truth is either explained by itself or another truth or being. Since the universe cannot be explained by itself that there must be a necessary being that explains it. That necessary being is supposed to be God. The Contingency argument does not deny that the possibility of an infinite series of contingent being could exist, rather that since we are here there has to be a plausible explanation. However, since none of the physical world even has to exist, it must have been created by something. PSR states that there must a sufficient explanation and since we are here and our universe does exist, there must have been a necessary being which created it, God.

The first premise of both arguments show what they are trying to prove, and they each differ slightly. The CAUSAL argument is trying to prove that everything in the physical world that has existed or exists has some cause for its existence. The Contingency argument attempts to demonstrate why the universe exists rather then why everything is caused. Ultimately both the arguments exist to prove the existence of God. The first premise of the CAUSAL states that there are things that came into existence. The first premise of the Contingency argument says that there is a contingent universe. The difference between these two statements is what they are trying to prove. The CAUSAL argument is trying to prove that there are things that exist and thus there are causes for their existence. The Contingency argument is proving our universe has an explanation for its existence. Both of these premises are similar because the physical existences of things are what create a universe. For example the physical existence of animals, humans, trees, the atmosphere and cars are all within our world and the worlds is a part of our universe. The Contingency argument is an improvement on the CAUSAL argument because after the failure of the CUASAL argument there had to come a more in depth and rational argument that would be easier to prove. By stating that a contingent universe exists, the contingency argument is proving an easier and broader premise and due to the following premises has less fallacies then the CAUSAL argument making the first premise of the Contingency argument is an easier argument to prove.

The Principle of Sufficient reason and the second premise of the CAUSAL argument are extremely similar. PSR states that every being has to have a reason for its existence, whether it be itself or another being. The second premise of the CAUSAL argument states the every thing that exists has a cause. A sufficient reason for existence and a cause for existence seem to be very similar statements. Nevertheless, the PSR is more precise because reason must be precise and deductive. For example, according to the CAUSAL argument a man died and his death was caused by a car crash. However, because of PSR this is not a sufficient reason for the man to die. According the Contingency argument a mad died because he was involved in a car accident where his airbag failed and he struck his head against the windshield breaking his neck, killing him instantly. This series of reasons for the man s death satisfy PSR and could also qualify as the cause for his death. Simply that the man was in a car accident and the man died is not a satisfactory explanation for PSR. Since PSR is gives us a more satisfactory explanation for the existence of beings and truths as opposed to the cause of things, again the Contingency argument has been improved upon the CAUSAL argument.

In the third premises of the arguments is where there is a major difference. The CAUSAL argument will not work if time is infinite. The Contingency arg