The Cosmological Argument

About the lecture

In this module, we introduce the cosmological argument, focusing in particular on (i) the historical philosophical background to cosmological arguments (ii) the nature of cosmological arguments as a posteriori and inductive (iii) moving from the observed to the unobserved in other methods of enquiry (iv) the separation of Aquinas’ proofs of the existence of God from arguments about God’s nature (v) Aquinas’ first three ways for the existence of God from motion, causation and contingency.

About the lecturer

John Cottingham is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Reading and an Honorary Fellow of St John's College, Oxford. He has published thirty books — thirteen as sole author, a further nine editions and translations, plus (either as single or join editor) eight edited collections — together with over 115 articles or chapters in journals or books. His books include Descartes, The Rationalists, Philosophy and the Good Life, On the Meaning of Life, The Spiritual Dimension (Cambridge, 2005), Cartesian Reflections (Oxford, 2008), Why Believe? (Continuum 2009) and Philosophy of Religion: Towards a More Humane Approach (Cambridge, 2014). He is co-editor and translator of the three-volume standard Cambridge edition of The Philosophical Writings of Descartes. From 1993-2012 he was editor of Ratio, the international journal of analytic philosophy. The Moral Life, a Festschrift honouring his work on moral psychology, ethics and religion, was published in 2008.