Monday 5 May 2014

AS Philo part a) Aquinas + Copleston's C.A

a) Explain Aquinas' cosmological argument and how Copleston developed it. (25)

In Summae Theologiae, Aquinas put forward his cosmological argument, based on inductive logic and a posteriori knowledge of the world. His argument was put forward in the 'five ways', which he stated are to help us understand God, rather than prove him, as ultimately God is an infinitely perfect being that we will never be able to truly comprehend.

The first way is based on motion and the principle of causation, which was largely influenced by Aristotle. Aquinas witnessed that everything is in a constant state of flux, which is a point drawn upon by many other philosophers, including Heraclitus' theory that 'we can never step in the same river twice'. However for Aquinas, motion is more about movement, but also the conversion of an object from a state of potentiality to actuality. He stated that 'whatever moves is moved by another', meaning that there must be something causing this motion within the world. However in order to be the cause of everything else's motion, the cause must be 'itself unmoved', similarly to Aristotle's concept of the Prime Mover. This cause of motion is, according to Aquinas, God.

The second way draws upon the observation that everything in the world appears to have a sequence of efficient causes which result in something's existence. This means that there are two possibilities regarding the chain of causes: either there is infinite regress, or there was one initial cause that is responsible for all others. Through inductive logic, Aquinas realised that it is impossible to have an infinite chain of causes, as 'without a first cause, there would be no subsequent causes'. Therefore, it is necessary for us to admit that there must have been one first cause, and this cause is God.

Thirdly, Aquinas observed that it is 'possible for things to be and not to be', meaning everything is contingent, as everything's existence relies upon something else. If everything in the world is contingent, then there must have been one point in time that there was nothing. If this is the case, then there would still be nothing. Therefore, there must be one necessary thing, that has always existed, and is responsible for bringing all contingent beings into existence, explaining how the universe exists now when the default position would otherwise be nothingness. Aquinas then states that this necessary being must be God.

Aquinas' 5 ways form the basis of the classical cosmological argument, and this was later developed by several other philosophers including Leibniz and Copleston. Instead of accepting the principle of causation - that every cause has an effect - Leibniz accepted Hume's criticism that this is not necessarily true, as we can imagine an effect with a cause. Instead, Leibniz put forward his theory of sufficient reason. This states that while not everything needs a cause, every effect must have had a sufficient reason for it to come into existence. 

Copleston further developed this, forming the modern cosmological argument. Copleston stated that while everything must have a sufficient reason, everything in this world is contingent, as everything relies upon something else. He used humans as an example, as we rely on air, food and water to exist. If nothing contains the reason for its own existence, then the sufficient reason for the universe must exist externally. He then draws the conclusion that this external reason must be God, which then forms another logical argument supporting the existence of God.

Mark: currently pending.

1 comment:

  1. Hi just wondering what you got for this essay?

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