The cosmological argument from plato to leibniz william. Leibnizs cosmological argument is this argument valid. Plato was not necessarily defining that the god of the christians was out there but defining that there must be a greater god out there. Leibniz argument leibniz argument can be summarised as follows 1 the world we see is changing 2 whatever is changing lacks within itself the reason for its own existence, 3 there is a sufficient reason for everything either within itself or outside itself, 4 therefore there must be a cause beyond itself for its existence 5 either this. The cosmological argument from plato to leibniz library of. His evenhanded analysis is the most comprehensive to date, and. Buy the cosmological argument from plato to leibniz library of philosophy and religion by craig, william l. Although in western philosophy the earliest formulation of a version of the cosmological argument is found in platos laws, 89396, the classical argument is firmly rooted in aristotles physics viii, 46 and metaphysics xii, 16. Even if adams does capture leibniz thinking, he does not put together a deductive argument for the existence of god from the existence of necessary abstract entities or necessary truths. For those of higher learning, this is a book that will explain how the philosophers from plato to leibniz speak of the cosmological argument even when the early philosophers were not even intending to prove theism. As one who has little training in philosophy and the cosmological argument, i found this book extremely helpful. It is traditionally known as an argument from universal causation, an argument from first. If creatio ex materia is what plato is illustrating in the timaeus, the cosmological argument would require that the previoussly existing material was also made by his demiurge, reverting to creatio ex nihilo.
The cosmological argument for the existence of god 2. Pwrpnt contingency cosmological argument causality. Download cosmological argument from plato leibniz professor philosophy william lane craig 9781579107871. Plato develops one of the earliest forms as he argued that the power to produce movement logically comes before the power to receive it and pass it on. The cosmological argument from plato to leibniz springer. A cosmological argument, in natural theology and natural philosophy not cosmology, is an.
The cosmological argument fits in with the god of classical theism omnipotent. The most widely accepted and sharpest notion of god that we have can be expressed like this. The cosmological argument from plato to leibniz the most thorough history to date of the development of the cosmological argument in its various forms. William lane craig, the cosmological argument from plato to. Of course, any such argument must feature a plausible version of the principle of sufficient reason, and leibnizs own version seemed to me too strong. Download cosmological argument from plato leibniz professor. William lane craig argues for the validity of the leibnizian cosmological argument which is different than the kalam co.
Gottfried leibnizs principle of sufficient reason video. Leibnizs argument from contingency is one of the most popular cosmological. The cosmological argument from plato to leibniz logos bible. The cosmological argument from plato to leibniz library of philosophy and religion. Overview of the leibnizian cosmological argument discussion in this post i will elaborate on the cosmological argument given by gottfried leibniz, which he outlines in his article on the ultimate origination of things.
William lane craig, the cosmological argument from plato. Feb 16, 2012 new remarks on the cosmological argument 11 distributions capable of shaping spacetime cu rvature to make such selfexistent ob jects possible, is a matter of fact and not of philosophical analysis. Philosophy a2 religion cosmological argument flashcards quizlet. Aristotle, platos student, carefully refines this argument into its stan dard format in his metaphysics. Further development of the cosmological argument came from the great philosopher leibniz, whose formulation relies upon what he called the principle of sufficient reason. Sep 16, 20 also known as the contingency argument, i feel this is the strongest of the cosmological arguments. Cosmological argument, which will be the subject of this paper. The cosmological argument from plato to leibniz paperback at.
This statement contradicts platos cosmological argument which requires ex nihilo. The leibnizian cosmological argument appearedtoblogly. A cosmological argument for god as a broadly logically necessary being was at the same time reopened as an option. The leibnizian cosmological argument reasonable faith. Leibniz was a german philosopher, mathematician, theologian, and. Any contingent fact about the world must have an explanation. Abstract we present a formal analysis of the cosmological argument in its. In this video, i move away from the kalam argument and towards an overview of the leibnizian cosmological argument, which is a similar, yet distinct, argument.
A cosmological argument, in natural theology and natural philosophy not cosmology, is an argument in which the existence of god is inferred from alleged facts concerning causation, explanation, change, motion, contingency, dependency, or finitude with respect to the universe or some totality of objects. In this chapter i defend three arguments in support of this premise, namely, the argument based on. Since this is a logically valid argument that is, it follows a proper form known as modus ponens, if one wishes to avoid the conclusion then she must deny at least one or more of the premises. According to plato and aristotle, this greatest mover, or the prime mover, must be god, and thus is the first formulation of the cosmological argument. The cosmological arguments download ebook pdf, epub, tuebl. Cosmological argument from plato to leibniz by william. Most famous form of this argument comes from st thomas aquinas. This site is like a library, use search box in the widget to get ebook that you want. Islamic philosophy enriches the tradition, developing two types of arguments. Learning objectives topic to understand how far the cosmological argument seeks to prove that god exists to understand why religious believers argue that the cosmological argument demonstrates that it is reasonable to believe in god to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the. The cosmological argument from plato to leibniz library. Sep 19, 2011 a common formulation of leibnizs cosmological argument is as follows. Everything that exists has an explanation of its existence either in the necessity of its own nature or in an external cause. Click download or read online button to get the cosmological arguments book now.
Grunbaum on the normalcy of nothingness in the leibnizian and kalam cosmological arguments. He has a clearer concept of infinite and provides a. Kant and hume challengers to cosmological argument immanuel kant we must deny knowledge in order to make room for faith david hume it is meaningless to talk of something we no direct knowledge to, infinite regress could of happened. Leibnizs cosmological argument for the existence of god. Leibniz uses the principle to argue that the sufficient reason for the. Get your kindle here, or download a free kindle reading app. The expanded form of the argument that i presented was.
Arguments such as these are the most basic fundamental question known to man, why do we exist. Oct, 2001 the cosmological argument from plato to leibniz william craig is 20% off every day at. The argument a simple version of the argument, in syllogistic form, goes as follows. The cosmological argument from plato to leibniz logos. The cosmological argument from plato to leibniz books. Showing more than the universe has a transcendent cause it directly leads to the existence of a. Cosmological reasoning is an important facet of classical arguments for the existence of god. Plato, aristotle, ibn sina, alghazali, maimonides, anselm, aquinas, scotus, descartes, spinoza. This book explores the cosmological argument as presented by plato, aristotle, thomas aquinas, scotus, spinoza, leibniz, as well as arabic and jewish theologians and philosophers. The cosmological argument from plato to leibniz springerlink.
Moreover, consider that the first premise, also known as the principle of sufficient reason, is highly intuitive. The cosmological argument from plato to leibniz william lane craig auth. Then, the argumentwas forcefully presented by aquinas and duns scotus. The origin of the argument can be traced to plato and aristotle. Leibnizs version is like kalam version and prefer aquinass chain of causality argument. Oct, 2001 the cosmological argument from plato to leibniz.
Then you can start reading kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer. This lesson will explain the principle of sufficient reason. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. The historical argument for the resurrection of jesus during the deist controversy dr william.
The more controversial premise in the argument is premise 2, that the universe began to exist. The kalam argument popular writings reasonable faith. So i think that the first premise of the kalam cosmological argument is surely true. The kalam cosmological argument is a product of the tradition of islamic science known as ilm alkalam, which was established in order to defend the islamic faith against academic criticism. Lets examine both philosophical arguments and scientific evidence in support of premise 2. The cosmological argument from plato to leibniz dr william lane craig. Cosmological argument page 2 of 5 the kalem is a version of the cosmological argument coming from the islamic tradition. Cosmological argument from plato to leibniz by william lane craig. Everything that exists has an explanation of its existence, either due to the necessity of its own nature or due to an external cause. It seems to me that the validity of existence as a perfection is dependent entirely upon the the other properties of the being that exists, which makes it a nonabsolute property according to the definition given in 2 which means existence is. The problem of divine foreknowledge and future contingents from aristotle to suarez.
Like plato, aristotle believed in an eternal cosmos with no beginning and no end which in turn. Leibnizian cosmological arguments based on the psr need something like a bccf, so questioning 15 is probably not a fruitful avenue for questioning for a defender of the leibnizian cosmological argument see further discussion in section 4. Cosmological argument stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. The cosmological argument is a family of arguments that seek to demonstrate the existence of a sufficient reason or first cause of the existence of the cosmos. One of my personal favorite areas of philosophy of religion is studying the arguments for existence of god. I will not claim that the argument i offer is exactly what leibniz had in mind. The cosmological argument is less a particular argument than an argument type. Quotations from al farabi and al ghazali are taken from this work. Thomas summa theologica selections the cosmological argument 122125 william paley natural theology selections the teleological argument 126128 david hume dialogues concerning natural religion selections 1297 part two. In doing this, it will highlight the assertions of gottfried leibniz and the cosmological argument for the existence of god. The cosmological proof finds brief statement in platos indeed, it is the presence of teleology in the universe that forms the primary foundation for theism. The founder of this argument, gottfried leibniz once said, why is there something rather than nothing. In this survey of the history of the cosmological proof, william lane craig summarizes the thought of the most prominent proponents of the argument.
Jan 23, 20 leibnizs argument from the principle of sufficient reason is an interesting argument for the existence of god, but it goes beyond just gods existence. Thomistic existentialism and cosmological reasoning on jstor. Craig, the cosmological argument from plato to leibniz macmillan, london, 1980. A key premise of the kalam cosmological argument is that the universe came into existence. One type of argument for god is the cosmological argument, and one of these arguments was developed by gottfried wilhelm leibniz. Human reality, which consists of three space times, those of matter, material world and the immaterial space time, is motivated from the perfect centre but at the same time that which was created by motivation remains in permanent imbalance. The cosmological argument from plato to leibniz william l. The final conclusion leibniz had was that god is the conclusion. Introduction a cosmological argument takes some cosmic feature of the universe such as the existence of contingent things or the fact of motion that calls out for an explanation and argues that this feature is to be explained in terms of the activity of a first cause, which first. In his the cosmological argument from plato to leibniz, william lane craig analyzes the first.
Enter your mobile number or email address below and well send you a link to download the free kindle app. William lane craig 2001 british journal for the philosophy of science 52 2. The introduction defines the cosmological argument and then the chapters describe how the argument developed from plato to leibniz. Although the argument is fundamentally islamic, and. In order for movement to occur in the first place, there must be an uncaused cause to originate movement. Even as interest in the cosmological argument for gods existence has grown amongst philosophers of religion, few contemporary treatments deal with it fairly and consistently. The roll of the defenders of this argument reads like a whos who of western philosophy. The cosmological argument from plato to leibniz it seems that youre in usa.
The cosmological argument from plato to leibniz william craig is 20% off every day at. Gottfried wilhelm leibniz stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. The cosmological arguments download ebook pdf, epub. The cosmological argument is often classified into the following three types craig, the cosmological argument from plato to leibniz. Our topic today is an attempt by a later philosopher, gottfried leibniz, to improve on aquinas third way. It also constrains the attributes of god to be a transcendent, uncaused, unembodied mind, who necessarily exists.
1025 665 400 1501 48 44 922 226 401 1395 133 483 265 1122 832 1535 481 1090 309 244 617 1559 1261 247 94 29 1211 812 1115 976 1296 848 944 817 635 923 976 1134 1334