There is no manner in which the universe would come into being out of nothing owing to no action (!) therefore there must have been an initial cause. It is not possible for there not to be a first cause, as if there were not, there would be nothing.
#Ockham against aquinas existence of god series
“The series must start with something, since nothing can come from nothing” AristotleĪristotle believed all changes must come from some ultimate source. Only souls can be primary movers – so whatever caused the universe must be a soul. Plato’s important distinction was between things that had the power to move or change both themselves and others – Primary movers and those things which could only move or change others once they had been moved – Secondary movers. “Shall we say then that it is the soul which controls heaven and earth”. However, it is necessary for something to have started this all off – something which did not and was not itself caused/created. The argument is based on the claim that everything existing in the universe exists because it was caused by something else that ‘something’ was itself also caused by something else. This inductive/a posteriori argument allows us to locate God beyond this universe and offers and explanation for the universe itself too.
The Cosmological Argument is an umbrella term and comes from the Greek cosmos meaning world/universe. “A may be explained by B, and B by C, but in the end there will be some one object on whom all other objects depend.” Swinburne 1996 Introduction The Cosmological Argument for the Existence of God
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