Aquinas - the cosmological argument for the

existence of God

The cosmological argument stems from the idea that the world and everything that
is in it is dependent on something other than itself for its existence. Even though
the world may appear to be self-perpetuating, it is necessary to understand the
source. Before Thomas Aquinas, both Plato and Aristotle too argued that
something could not come from nothing.There has to be something, which exists to
cause a movement.The three major arguments put forth by Aquinas known as the
Cosmological Argument. In his work, Summa Theologica  Thomas Aquinas offered
five 'proofs' for the existence of God. The first argument was the Argument of
Motion. Aquinas’s argument has to be understood keeping in mind Aristotle’s
discussion of Astronomy. Aristotle argued that the planetary position, which causes
the seasons to change, requires an unmoved mover to maintain the order of things.
Aquinas’ argument was based on this very premise that without God the heaven
and earth would not exist. This implies that any event in the universe is the result of
some cause.

The argument is that this chain of events either has a cause or does not. While
Aristotle left it at the Uncaused cause Aquinas named this uncaused cause as
‘God’.  Astronomers refute this theory and rely on the Big Bang Theory, which is
the scientific theory that the universe emerged from an enormously dense and hot
state nearly 14 billion years ago. Bertrand Russell too disagrees and says that the
‘universe just is’ without any cause.
Aquinas further argues that there can be no effect without an ‘efficient cause’.
There is nothing in the world that can be the efficient cause of itself. To take away
the cause is to take away the effect. Therefore, if there were no first cause among
efficient causes, there will be no ultimate, or intermediate, cause. There cannot be
an endless regression of cause and effect and hence the first cause must be God.

The third argument is based on possibility and necessity. According to Aquinas, it

is logically possible that the universe has already existed for an infinite amount of
time, and will continue to exist for an infinite amount of time. If the universe could
exist or could not exist, that is to say, it is contingent, then its existence must have
a cause. Objects have contingent existence but God has necessary existence.
Aquinas argues that if everything can not-be, then at one time there was nothing in
existence. If at one time nothing was in existence, it would have been impossible
for anything to have begun to exist; and thus even now nothing would be in
existence – which is absurd.

Aquinas further argues on the degrees of perfection and goodness that can be
seen in the world. Humans have the capacity for both good and bad deeds.
Therefore, the maximum in the genus (group of things) of morality must be God
(the perfect being), who is the ‘first cause’, or source, of all goodness and
perfection.

The cosmological argument not only seeks to reason the existence of God but
could also be said to provide a meaning to life in the world. For instance, if we
know where we have come from then surely, it could be argued, we have some
idea of where we are going. Hence, Aquinas comes to the same conclusion that
God exists, whether there was a first event in the universe or not.