Thomas Aquinas Cosmological Argument For The Existence Of God

Four components of Thomas Aquinas’ cosmological argument for the existence of God are the argument from first motion, the argument from first cause, the argument from degrees, and the argument from the contingent. The argument from first motion is practically the thought that because things move in the universe and something else caused those things to move, then there must be an initial mover—that initial mover is God (Vaughn 64-65). Aquinas’ second argument is that from first-cause, this is basically the thought that everything in the universe has a cause, that cause also has a cause, this continues infinitely until only one cause is left—that first uncaused cause is God (Vaughn 65-66). The argument from the contingent is essentially the thought that because there are contingent beings and they only exist in a certain time, in other words they are temporary and do not always exist. With this in mind, there must have been a time where contingent beings did not exist, because time is infinite and contingent beings are finite. Therefore, an infinite and needed being must have created finite and contingent beings—the infinite and needed being is God (“Aquinas’”). The argument from degrees is practically the thought that some things are better or worse than other things, because of this there must be a thing that is the best—that thing that is the best is God (“Aquinas’”).