Kalam: Cosmological Argument

January 25, 2010

[kuh-lawm’]

(Arabic, “speech”)

A version of the cosmological argument for the existence of God that argues from beginnings. In essence, the argument can be summed up this way: Premise 1: Whatever begins to exist has a cause. Premise 2: The universe began to exist. Conclusion: The universe has a cause. The argument is then moved to a justification of premise 2 based upon the impossibility of an infinite past series of successive moments. Since this is the case, the universe cannot go into the infinite past and therefore must have a beginning.

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