Outline the Cosmological Argument for the Existence of God

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Leibniz says that there must be an explanation to the universe and it is illogical to just say there isn’t an explanation. He says that you can’t simply leave the universe without an explanation, as it’s within our minds that everything must have an explanation. Leaving the universe unexplained means that the existence God can never be discovered.

Hume heavily criticised the cosmological argument by saying that our minds can’t understand the idea of infinity. He also says that there is no reason to suppose that the creator is the God of the Bible. He says that the creator isn’t necessarily the omnipotent and omniscient God described in the Bible. The ‘God of the Gaps’ theory can also be used by saying that God is the answer to things that science just doesn’t have the answer yet.

Russel describes the universe being a ‘brute fact’ that just needs to be accepted. Some people would argue that this is a very flawed explanation for a deep issue. Also there is no reason why the universe should only have one single cause as many other things have different origins throughout Earth.

It is acceptable to say that the argument fails on the fact that theists are more likely to accept God as the answer whereas atheists would take the opposite stance. It could be said though that as there are many arguments for the existence of God, together they build a strong argument for the cosmological argument. This suggests that both sides of the argument have their faults but I do not think that the as a whole the cosmological argument can be said to explain the universe or convince for the existence of God.