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In natural theology, a cosmological argument is an argument in which the existence of a unique being, generally identified with or referred to as God, is deduced or inferred as highly probable from facts or alleged facts concerning causation, change, motion, contingency, or finitude in respect of the universe as a whole or processes within it. It is traditionally known as an argument from universal causation, an argument from first cause, the causal argument or the argument from existence. Whichever term is employed, there are three basic variants of the argument, each with subtle yet important distinctions: the arguments from ''in causa'' (causality), ''in esse'' (essentially), and ''in fieri'' (becoming). The basic premise of all of these is the concept of causality and of a First Cause. The history of this argument goes back to Aristotle or earlier, was developed in Neoplatonism and early Christianity and later in medieval Islamic theology during the 9th to 12th centuries, and re-introduced to medieval Christian theology in the 13th century. The cosmological argument is closely related to the principle of sufficient reason as addressed by Gottfried Leibniz and Samuel Clarke, itself a modern exposition of the claim that "nothing comes from nothing" attributed to Parmenides. Contemporary defenders of cosmological arguments include William Lane Craig, Robert Koons, Alexander Pruss, and William L. Rowe. == History == Plato (c. 427–347 BC) and Aristotle (c. 384–322 BC) both posited first cause arguments, though each had certain notable caveats. Plato posited a basic argument in ''The Laws'' (Book X), in which he reasoned that all movement in the world and the Cosmos was "imparted motion". This required a "self-originated motion" to set it in motion and to maintain it. Plato posited a "demiurge" of supreme wisdom and intelligence as the creator of the Cosmos in his work ''Timaeus''.〔Craig, WL., (''The Cosmological Argument from Plato to Leibniz'' ), Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2001, pp. 1-5, 13.〕 Aristotle argued against the idea of a first cause, often confused with the idea of a "prime mover" or "unmoved mover" ( or ''primus motor'') in his ''Physics'' and ''Metaphysics''.〔Aristotle, ''Physics'' VIII, 4–6; ''Metaphysics'' XII, 1–6.〕 Aristotle's famous argument was contrary to the atomist's depiction of a non-eternal cosmos which, he argued, would require an efficient first cause, a notion that Aristotle took to demonstrate a critical flaw in their reasoning. However, a non-eternal cosmos, with both a beginning and an end, would later come to reflect the prevalent theological beliefs in medieval Europe. By simply denying that an efficient first cause is problematic, being easily explained as the creative action of an omnipotent God, medieval theologians re-purposed and enhanced Aristotle's argument, as if the intention had been to prove God's existence. Like Plato, Aristotle believed in an eternal cosmos with no beginning and no end (which in turn follows Parmenides' famous statement that "nothing comes from nothing"). In what he called "first philosophy" or metaphysics, Aristotle ''did'' intend a theological correspondence between the prime mover and deity (presumably Zeus); functionally, however, he provided an explanation for the apparent motion of the "fixed stars" (now understood as the daily rotation of the Earth). According to his theses, immaterial unmoved movers are eternal unchangeable beings that constantly think about thinking, but being immaterial, they're incapable of interacting with the cosmos and have no knowledge of what transpires therein. From an "aspiration or desire",〔"Cosmological Argument for the Existence of God", in ''Macmillan Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (1967), Vol. 2, p233 ''ff''.〕 the celestial spheres, ''imitate'' that purely intellectual activity as best they can, by uniform circular motion. The unmoved movers ''inspiring'' the planetary spheres are no different in kind from the prime mover, they merely suffer a dependency of relation to the prime mover. Correspondingly, the motions of the planets are subordinate to the motion inspired by the prime mover in the sphere of fixed stars. Aristotle's natural theology admitted no creation or capriciousness from the immortal pantheon, but maintained a defense against dangerous charges of impiety. Plotinus, a third-century Platonist, taught that the One transcendent absolute caused the universe to exist simply as a consequence of its existence - "creatio ex deo". His disciple Proclus stated "The One is God". Centuries later, the Islamic philosopher Avicenna (c. 980–1037) inquired into the question of being, in which he distinguished between essence (''Mahiat'') and existence (''Wujud''). He argued that the fact of existence could not be inferred from or accounted for by the essence of existing things, and that form and matter by themselves could not originate and interact with the movement of the Universe or the progressive actualization of existing things. Thus, he reasoned that existence must be due to an agent cause that necessitates, imparts, gives, or adds existence to an essence. To do so, the cause must coexist with its effect and be an existing thing. Steven Duncan writes that "it was first formulated by a Greek-speaking Syriac Christian neo-Platonist, John Philoponus," who claims to find a contradiction between the Greek pagan insistence on the eternity of the world and the Aristotelian rejection of the existence of any actual infinite." Referring to the argument as the "'Kalam' cosmological argument", Duncan asserts that it "received its fullest articulation at the hands of () Muslim and Jewish exponents of ''Kalam'' ("the use of reason by believers to justify the basic metaphysical presuppositions of the faith)."〔Duncan, S., ''Analytic philosophy of religion: its history since 1955'', Humanities-Ebooks, p.165.〕 Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225–1274) adapted the argument he found in his reading of Aristotle and Avicenna to form one of the most influential versions of the cosmological argument.〔Scott David Foutz, (An Examination of Thomas Aquinas' Cosmological Arguments as found in the Five Ways ), ''Quodlibet Online Journal of Christian Theology and Philosophy''〕 His conception of First Cause was the idea that the Universe must have been caused by something that was itself uncaused, which he asserted was God. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cosmological argument」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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