The cosmological argument: Aquinas's three ways

Overview

Historical background to the cosmological argument, contingent and necessary being and kalam cosmological argument.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What is the historical background to the cosmological argument?

   Model answer

   Its roots are in Plato and Aristotle, particularly Aristotle's unmoved mover, and it reached Christian thought through Islamic philosophers and then Aquinas.

2. 2

   In which work does Aquinas set out the Five Ways?

   Model answer

   Aquinas sets them out in the Summa Theologica.

3. 3

   Which three of the Five Ways form the cosmological argument?

   Model answer

   The first three ways: the argument from motion, the argument from cause and the argument from contingency.

4. 4

   Summarise Aquinas's first way.

   Model answer

   Whatever is in motion is moved by something else, this cannot go back for ever, so there must be a first mover put in motion by nothing else, which everyone understands to be God.

5. 5

   What does Aquinas mean by motion?

   Model answer

   Aquinas means change from potentiality to actuality, not merely movement through space.

6. 6

   Summarise Aquinas's second way.

   Model answer

   Nothing can be the efficient cause of itself, a series of efficient causes cannot be infinite, so there must be a first efficient cause, to which everyone gives the name God.

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