Essay on Critique of Aquinass Cosmological Argument

Critique of Aquinass Cosmological Argument Aquinass 3rd way suggests that the world consists of contingent beings. As all contingent beings have a cause, namely another contingent being, there must have been a time when nothing existed, (unless contingent beings exist as a brute fact). Therefore, contingent beings could not have come into existence unless there is a necessary being which is non- contingent that caused them. Aquinas named this being God. The problem with Aquinass view is that as physicians have suggested matter is eternal and therefore a necessary being is not required to cause contingent beings. The basis of Aquinass argument depends on the fact that contingent beings†¦show more content†¦If matter is eternal then it must always have existed and thus is a brute fact and needs no explanation. Therefore, the universe is not contingent as the matter is never generated or perished, it is only the objects that are made of the matter that perish. Thus, contingent objects exist within the universe but the universe as a whole is essentially brute fact and non-contingent as it is all matter. Thus as Peter Cole suggests in Philosophy Of Religion(22), the cause of the universe is not about the metaphysical necessary being called God, it is about the nature of matter. In continuance to this, the matter itself could be defined as the necessary being as it is eternal and therefore could not have failed to exist. Thus Matter would be a necessary being and would satisfy the arguments definition of God ( Stephen Evans in Philosophy Of Religion(55). This would undermine Aquinas as he stated that the necessary being was separate from the universe. In essence, this view of matter as eternal means that if God exists, then far from being separate from the universe, God is the universe. Therefore, God would be defined as the matter of the universe which thus means that pantheism applies which undermines Aquinas. So if a belief in God is needed, then God is the universe, and not God was the cause of the universe asShow MoreRelatedThis essay will be examining the key arguments for the existence of God, in order to discuss the3100 Words   |  13 PagesThis essay will be examining the key arguments for the existence of God, in order to discuss the claim that â€Å"it is wrong to believe in anything without sufficient evidence†- with reference to the non-existence of God. It will be exploring both a priori and an a posteriori argument for the existence of God. It will solely be concentrating on the Theological argument, Cosmological argument and the Ontologi cal argument, in order, to analyse their significance and contribution in vindicating the claim