The Cosmological Argument
by: Reid Goldsmith
and Ben McAtee
The Thomist argument
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Got its name from St. Thomas Aquinas
Humans are finite, contingent beings
Such beings can’t exist on their own
Must come from either an infinite number
of predecessing finite beings or one
necessary Being, a.k.a. God
Man from Man from Man...
• An infinite regress of finite beings does not
cause anything.
• Saying that there were infinite beings before
does not prove anything about their
beginning, leaving the finite without a
definite beginning, which is impossible.
• It’s like trying to get an orange by adding an
infinite number of apples.
• Therefore, existence must be grounded on a
necessary being.
The Leibnizian Argument
• Named for Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz.
• Begins by asking the question, “Why is
there something rather than nothing?”
• Uses the principle of sufficient reasoning to
argue that the existence of God is logical
and necessary.
• It is a logical contradiction to deny the
statement “God exists.”
Why Should We Believe in
Sufficient Reason?
• Sufficient Reason: for anything that exists, there
must be some reason why it exists rather than not
exists.
• If you take a broken car to the garage and the
mechanic says there’s nothing wrong with it,
does it mean that there’s nothing wrong with it or
he doesn’t know what’s wrong with it?
• Simply saying, “It is just because it is,” is not
sufficient. There must be a reason.
Is a Being’s Existence
Necessary?
• Necessity is unimportant, because
obviously, man exists.
• Because existence occurs, there must be
some sort of explanation.
• You cannot deny the existence of a being,
therefore you cannot deny the existence of a
cause for the being and cannot argue against
the need for a being’s existence.
Overview of the Kalam Argument
Kalam Argument
Universe
Beginning
Caused
Personal
No Beginning
Not caused
Not Personal
Actual Infinity
Represented by the figure to the right
a0-1= a0
a0+1= a0
a0-n= a0
a0+n= a0
a0* a0= a0
a
0
More on Actual Infinity
• Actual infinity logically cannot exist because it creates
irreconcilable paradoxes.
• If there were an actual infinite number of past events, then
the earth would’ve revolved around the sun an infinite
number of times. Now, if the moon revolves around the
earth exactly 12 times for every one revolution the earth
makes around the sun, then it should’ve revolved around
earth more times than the earth revolved around the sun. If
actual infinity were any other number, it would be true.
However, because of the nature of an actual infinite set, no
matter how much you increase an actual infinite set, it will
always be equal to all other actual infinite sets.
Potential Infinity
lim1/n= 
n0
• A potential infinite
increases its number
through time
• A potential infinite is
always finite
• A potential infinite can
never become an
actual infinite.
Kalam: First Premise and First
Argument
• Since an actual infinite
cannot exist, then there is
a finite number of past
events in this universe.
• If there is a finite number
of past events, at some
point, there was no
universe
• Therefore, there must have
been a beginning to our
universe
Kalam: First Premise and Second
Argument
• Even if an actual infinite could
exist, it is impossible to traverse
an actual infinite
• If there are an actual infinite
number of points between point
Z and point Y, then it would
take infinite time to traverse
that segment
• The argument from nature of
causal sequences helps us to
understand this phenomenon.
Y
B
A
Z
Argument from Causal
Sequences
• Imagine, if you will, a helicopter flying over your head.
How did it get there?
• You’re thinking too hard.
• Here’s how it got there. The pilot got into the helicopter.
The pilot getting into the helicopter is the direct cause of
the helicopter flying over your head.
• The fact that there is a causal relationship between the pilot
getting in the chopper and the chopper flying over your
head means that there are specific instances in the past that
you can determine, thus proving that there isn’t an actual
infinite number of past events.
Infinite past events, no history
• Your birthday was a historical event.
• If there have been an infinite number of past events, you
have been born an infinite number of times.*
• More simply, say you have a chicken, and it lays an egg. If
there were an infinite number of events, what came first,
the chicken or the egg?
• You have a dot, and it is the only object in your universe.
Periodically it changes from red to blue. Given an infinite
number of past events, did it start out being red or blue?*
*--example provided by Mr. Patterson
More on Actual Infinite
• Because of the properties
of an actual infinite, if
there are a0 points
between Y and Z, then
there are a0 points
between point A and point
B.
– Logically, an actual infinite
cannot be traversed.
• If an actual infinite cannot
be traversed, then the
universe had a beginning
Y
B
A
Z
The Big Bang theory
• In 1920, Astronomer
Edwin Hubble discovered
the Red Shift.
– The red shift proves the
universe is expanding
• If the universe is
expanding, it must have
had a starting point.
Hence, the universe had a
beginning.
• The big bang theory states
that this beginning was a
giant explosion from an
infinitesimal point.
Second law of Thermodynamics
• The Second law defines Entropy as either energy, disorder,
or information.
• The second law states that Entropy is always increasing in
the universe.
• If the universe had not had a beginning, we would have
reached an equilibrium of disorder right now, the universe
being completely in disorder. We would all be a bunch of
quarks and mesons flying around in a soup of energy. But,
since that hasn’t happened, then the universe had a
beginning.
Kalaam Premise 2: The Beginning
of the Universe was Caused
• Because the universe began to exist, it’s
logical to assume it was caused.
• Something does not come from nothing
without a cause.
• Events have a definite beginning and end
and do not happen without something
causing them.
God Needed no Cause Because
He had no Beginning
• God does not need a cause, because He is
neither an event or a contingent being.
• Because God is a necessary being, He does
not need a cause.
• Asking for a cause for God is illogical. It’s
asking for a cause for an uncaused Being.
Arguments against cause and no
cause reasoning
• Quantum mechanics says that there is an
ultimate indeterminacy in nature at the
subatomic level.
• Law of cause and effect doesn’t hold, events
occur without a cause and something can
come from nothing.
Two Arguments Against
Quantum Mechanics
• #1: Not all physicists
agree on how to interpret
quantum mechanics.
• Some say that entities in
the quantum theories
should be treated in nonrealistic terms.
• Nature isn’t really
indeterminate, we just
don’t & can’t understand
causes of quantum
phenomena.
• #2: Not all physicists
agree on how to interpret
quantum mechanics.
• There’s no definite way to
think of it, so not many
people put trust in it
anyway.
• The law of cause and
effect is well-established
and understood. The
burden of proof falls on
those disputing the known
So….
• Even if the beginning being something from
nothing were logically possible, it’s still
physically impossible
• There is therefore no reason to deny what
we witness every day: events have causes.
• The beginning, being an event, must have
had a cause.
Kalaam Premise 3: The Cause for
the Universe was Personal
• The cause had to either be personal or
impersonal.
• Prior to the universe, there was a state of no
time, no space, and no change of any kind.
• The conditions for the beginning were
either existent from all eternity in a state of
“immutability,” or they had to come to be.
So What is the “First Event?”
• If the conditions had to come to be, then
that in itself was the first event.
• This couldn’t be because before the initial
universe, there was no order and no change.
• The only way to avoid the first event being
uncaused is to say that conditions existed in
a timeless, changeless state.
And…
• If this was an impersonal beginning, then
when the cause existed, the effect would
have taken place, simply because all the
conditions were in their proper place.
• If there is no waiting, then an infinite cause
would have caused an infinite effect. This
goes back to the universe being infinite.
The Cause had to be Personal
• The only way the first event could have
come spontaneously from a timeless,
changeless state is to be caused by a free act
of a person or agent, meaning it was created
on purpose.
• You can raise your arm if conditions are
right, but conditions don’t cause it. It’s an
act of free will.
To Sum it all Up:
• It’s not logical to believe that the beginning
of the universe was caused by a timeless,
impersonal act or force.
• This doesn’t prove that the universe was
created by the God of the Bible, but it does
show that we’re in need of some supreme,
necessary being who was our cause.
The End