Higher Advanced RMPS SQA

Aquinas: Argument from Motion, Contingency, Causation

Aquinas' Cosmological Arguments

Argument from Motion

• Thomas Aquinas created his Argument from Motion based on the observation that everything in the universe is in motion or changing states.

• Aquinas argued that nothing can move without a mover. This initial mover, he reasoned, must be unmovable itself, or else it would require yet another mover.

• He identified this unmovable mover as God.

• Hence, God is the prime mover who set everything in the universe in motion.

Argument from Contingency

• Aquinas' Argument from Contingency posits that things in the universe exist contingently, meaning they could not exist.

• There must have been a time when no physical things existed, but, if that were true, then there would be nothing that could bring the currently existing contingent beings into existence.

• Aquinas concluded that there must be a necessary being whose existence is not contingent on any other being or thing. This necessary being is identified as God.

• Therefore, God must exist as the necessary being to bring contingent beings into existence.

Argument from Causation

• The Argument from Causation is based on the principle that, in nature, things have a cause and effect.

• Aquinas believed that nothing happens without being caused by something else. He argued that this could not go on ad infinitum, which means an uncaused causer or a first cause must exist.

• He identified this first cause as God, making God the ultimate cause of everything that happens.

• Without the existence of God as the first cause, the sequence of cause and effect in the universe would be infinite and unexplainable.

Key Points to Remember

• The Arguments from Motion, Contingency, and Causation are part of Aquinas' Five Ways, which attempt to prove the existence of God.

• Aquinas argued that behind the motion, contingency, and cause-effect phenomena experienced in the universe, there must be a prime mover, a necessary being, and a first cause, respectively. He identified all of these with God.

• Aquinas' arguments are forms of cosmological arguments for the existence of God. They operate on the principle that the existence and nature of the universe imply the existence of a being who was the cause or explanation for the universe.