Preview

Cosmological Argument

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
505 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Cosmological Argument
1. Who is considered the author of the Ontological argument?
ANS: Saint Anslem
2. The first 3 “Ways” by St. Thomas Aquinas (to prove the existence of God) are called:
a. argument from design
b. argument from perfection
c. cosmological argument
d. none of the above.
ANS: Cosmological argument
3. Explain the thrid way by Aquinas...which is called the argument from contigency. (2 or 3 sentences)
ANS: Contingency can be explained as the possibility of things that come into being and go out of being. There are things in nature that come into existence and go out of existence. There was a time when nothing existed. But as nothing can come from nothing, so there must exist a being which is not merely possible but necessary from which everything
…show more content…
The big bang theory cannot be reconciled with the notion of an intelligent designer. T or F
ANS: True
6. Recent court decisions have disallowed the teaching of “intelligent design” in high school biology classes. What is the reasoning behind this decision? (one or two sentences).
ANS: Court decisions have disallowed the teaching of “Intelligent Design” in high school biology classes, because it is believed to be a form of creationism, a religious theory that can’t be backed up by evidence and proofs. The theory of Intelligent Design states that humans are too complicated to have evolved from random chemical and physical forces.
7. An agnostic is described as a person who has “no position” on whether God exists or not. In other words, it is a position in which the person argues that since it cannot be “proven” either way, the most sensible position is to claim that you neither “believe” or “disbelieve”. In terms of Pascal’s Wager, you could say you aren’t going to make “any bets”. How would Pascal Wager classify you?
Choose one: believer, non-believer, no way to classify you.
ANS: Non-believer
8. In the history of western philosophy, most of the “classical arguments” with respect to the existence of God have tried to show that God does not exist. T or

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Thomas Aquinas developed Aristotle’s ideas and offered the ‘Five Ways’ which have the aim to prove the existence of God. Three of the five form the cosmological argument. The first way is motion, the second is cause and the third is necessity and contingency.…

    • 789 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Thomas Aquinas's argument for the existence of God is a deductive argument. This assessment is based on the nature of the premises in the argument. As discussed during classroom lectures, the argument's premises and conclusion can be translated as evaluate the truth value of the premises and how they support the conclusion.…

    • 923 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    All expect the contingency theory, another argument by Thomas Aquinas. This argument states that everything in our universe is contingent (does not have to necessarily exist) so if everything was contingent then at some time there would have been nothing and therefore there would be nothing, but there clearly is, so therefore there must be something which isn’t contingent which everything else depends on, a necessary being, this is God.…

    • 495 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Thomas Aquinas developed Aristotle’s ideas and offered the ‘Five Ways’ which have the aim to prove the existence of God. Three of the five form the cosmological argument. The first way is motion, the second is cause and the third is necessity and contingency.…

    • 552 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Examine some of the key principles of the argument for the existence of God based upon religious experiences…

    • 777 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Rowe suggests that premise 2 “seems to be a necessary truth.” But it certainly is not if we take Clarke’s analysis of premise 1. If a living thing exists and it is not the case that something has always existed, then it does conclude that something has been produced out of nothing.…

    • 247 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    St. Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274) was a Dominican priest, theologian, and philosopher. In one of his most famous works, the Summa, Theologiae, Aquinas put forward five proofs for the existence of God. Three of his ways, which will be discussed in this essay start with the observation of motion, efficient causation and contingency. The other two are the argument for Degrees and Perfection and The Argument from Intelligent Design. This is a posterior argument meaning a truth is learnt following an experience. This is contrasted with a priori, which means truths are not learnt on the basis of experience, instead the truth is known prior to the experience. For example 2+2=4. In simplest form, the argument states that the world exists and we know this because of observation (A). The existence of this world has a cause (A-B). The cause of the world is God – an identity claim. (B=C).…

    • 930 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The cosmological argument proves the existence of God. It discusses contingent beings which exist, but could not have existed and necessary beings which exist and could not not exist. The cosmological says that there is a contingent being that exists. The existence of a contingent being must have a cause and the contingent being cannot be the cause of itself. The complete cause of a contingent being includes only other contingent beings or it includes a necessary being. Contingent beings alone cannot be the complete cause of a contingent being. The complete cause of a contingent being must include a necessary being. Therefore, a necessary being must exist. The cosmological argument shows that there must be a higher power, and that higher power is God. Everything that exists on earth is a contingent being. There is no person or animal that is not contingent. But what created everything to begin with if a contingent being cannot be the only cause of another contingent being? Everything on earth has a cause, but there must be a necessary being being that caused the Earth. There has to be something other than contingent beings. There has to be a necessary being that started everything. That necessary being is…

    • 1190 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Creationism Controversy

    • 611 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Public schools have banned the theory of creationism from being taught. The Scopes Trial caused creationism to be ignored, as evolution was taught freely. Like evolution, The Big Bang Theory is promptly taught, and promoted among young students. By only teaching one theory of the creation of the universe, children are not given the opportunity to choose what they believe. If public schools taught creationism along with other theories, children would have a better chance at feeling less pressured into believing only what they are taught. Public education systems should allow creationism to be taught in classrooms to better allow students to freely decide what they want to believe in. The idea behind creationism is intelligent design; the belief that the universe was made by an all­powerful being. Although creationism is entirely possible, people have a hard time believe that one entity could create everything in existence simply by thought. On the contrary, a rose cannot be made from a rock. It had to be designed to be a rose. Roses are a complex, living organism full of parts and systems. A rock is a non­living object that has no resembling characteristics that roses have. They cannot both be made from nothing but an explosion with such differences. There are so many different and complex components to life that cannot be fully explained by the Big Bang theory. In 2005, the Discovery Institute stated, “Of course there’s no way to falsify a mere assertion that a cosmic designer exists. That much we agree on.” This statement is evidence that shows there is a possibility that creationism is in fact a very possible solution to the mystery of the birth of the universe. Schools should allow students access to learn every main theory that explains the making of our universe.…

    • 611 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    The argument of Intelligent Design commences from a denial of evolutionism, which turns Intelligent Design into a sophistry. This argument roots the correctness of its idea on the ground that Darwinism is inconceivable and lacks evidence to prove its correctness. However, a theory should not establish its argument from the denial of another theory. "The fundamental problem with intelligent design is that you can't use it to explain the natural world. It's essentially…

    • 571 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Lofaso, Anne Marie. "The Constitutional Debate Over Teaching Intelligent Design as Science in Public Schools." American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (2005): 1-24. Print.…

    • 2964 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    (Lloyd) Scientists explain the world using only natural causes and theories, not supernatural ones. They assume all causes can be methodically measured, quantified, and studied. Since Scientists cannot explain or test explanations about the supernatural, they would be unable to prove or disprove a hypothesis that focused on a supernatural cause. This is the problem that Intelligent Design supporters face. There is no known way to prove that the supernatural exists. By including the supernatural in scientific study, it would be impossible to present the findings as factual. Experimentation, analysis, and evidence based results are procedures that clearly separate science from other types of knowing. Any type of knowing that uses the supernatural, such as Intelligent Design, does not belong in a science…

    • 1557 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I believe that intelligent design should not be taught in school. Intelligent design is not a scientific perspective, it's a religious one. It is not science because there is not enough evidence to support it. Kids can learn about intelligent design at home or at sunday school, it should not be taught in schools. It is creationism disguised as science.…

    • 274 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    St. Thomas Aquinas Summary

    • 1880 Words
    • 8 Pages

    All things have a common origin, a common beginning. In his Quinque viæ, St. Thomas Aquinas discussed about the existence of a higher divine being in the form of five points: the unmoved mover; the first cause; the argument from contingency; the argument from degree; and the “argument from design” idea.…

    • 1880 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    For years, a sundry of the most influential people have weighed in on the debate which contrasts the pros and cons of teaching intelligent design in a science class compared to solely teaching evolution. Many have recently swayed to a pro intelligent design mindset due to scientists having no empirical evidence to explain Charles Darwin’s theory of Natural Selection, which is said to be the process in which our world’s structure of evolution follows. Darwin’s theory implies that species exist due to the natural change in which they inhabit to survive their environment; yet, it lacks the explanation on how the origin of life began. Thus, causing a suggestion of an intelligent designer who created nature to make it how it appears today. Nevertheless, scientists have a major issue with this hypothesis; claiming that the only evidence is to prove it is the lack of so in Darwin’s theory. Therefore, both intelligent design and evolution should…

    • 854 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays