By the end of this class, you will:

  1. Be able to present a version of the cosmological argument, and to discuss at least one objection to it.

(KI, K5, K6, K7, K8, D1, D2, B1, B5)

Before the Plenary

Read This

Richard Taylor, “God”

(An excerpt from Chapter 7 of Richard Taylor‘s Metaphysics (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall:  1963).)

Watch This

After the Plenary

Reflect on today’s reading and on the following question(s):

  • Give examples of contingent things, and explain why you think they are contingent.
  • Is it believable that there is no explanation whatsoever for the universe’s existence? Must “explanation stop somewhere”?
  • If so, is there any reason why it should not stop with the universe rather than with God?
  • Suppose the universe has always existed. Does it follow that it was not created, according to Taylor? According to you?

Consider discussing these with your Peer Dialogue Group this week.