The Strengths and Weaknesses of the Cosmological Argument for the Exist

The Strengths and Weaknesses of the Cosmological Argument for the Existence of God The cosmological argument seeks to prove the existence of God by looking at the universe. It is an A posteriori proof based on experience and the observation of the world not logic so the outcome is probable or possible not definite. The argument is in three forms; motion, causation and being. These are also the first three ways in the five ways presented by Aquinas through which he believed the existence of God could be shown. Aquinas regarded Aristotle as the principal philosopher so many of these concepts originate in the thinking of Aristotle. One example of the cosmological argument is the argument of causation. Everything has a cause. Everything itself has a cause. But, you cannot have an infinite number of causes. Therefore there must have been an uncaused causer, which causes everything to happen without itself being caused by anything else. Such an uncaused cause is what people understand by 'God'. This idea was revisited by William Lane Craig who developed the Kalam cosmological argument. He reinforced the contention that the universe must have had a creator by firstly proving that the universe if finite. He proves this by explaining that the present would not exist in an actual infinite universe, because successive additions cannot be added to an actual infinite. The present does exist, as a result of a chronological series of past events. The universe must be finite. Craig seeks to prove that the universe must have had a beginning in time and that there must have been a creator who was uncaused. The Kalam argument makes the cosmologi... ...but does not prove there was a being that started this. The beginning of the universe could be put down to coincidence followed by the evolution of life. However, it does not disprove the existence of an uncaused causer. How do we not know that God was not responsible for the big bang? In conclusion we can see that there are many reasons to believe that the universe must have had a beginning. Both from a philosophical and scientific point of view. However, this cannot be proved, we are still able to question the idea. It is also debatable as to whether or not a personal creator was involved. This is down to personal belief and faith in God. I do not personally believe that the cosmological argument is strong enough to prove the existence of God. But, it is very convincing in proving that the universe had a beginning.