Cosmological Arguments

Cosmological arguments are a family of arguments that seek to demonstrate the existence of some being that is the ultimate cause of the universe's existence.

Directory

📄️ Aquinas' First Way: Unmoved Mover

Formulation

📄️ Aquinas' Second Way: First Cause

Formulation

📄️ Aquinas' Third Way: Contingency

Formulation

📄️ Samuel Clarke's Cosmological Argument

Formulation

📄️ Leibniz's Cosmological Argument

Leibniz was a German philosopher and mathematician who lived in the 17th and 18th centuries.

📄️ Leibnizian CA: Davis-Craig

One critique of the Leibniz cosmological argument comes from philosopher Stuart Davis.

📄️ Leibnizian CA: Pruss

Another formulation of the Leibnizian cosmological argument comes from philosopher Alexander Pruss.

📄️ Gale-Pruss Cosmological Argument

Given that one problem with the Pruss formulation of the Leibnizian cosmological argument is the use of a general Principle of Sufficient Reason (PSR), Richard Gale and Alexander Pruss have formulated a cosmological argument that instead relies on a weak PSR.

📄️ CA Without the Principle of Sufficient Reason (PSR)

Two philosophers, Bernard D. Katz and Elmar J. Kremer, have formulated a cosmological argument that does not rely on the Principle of Sufficient Reason (PSR).