Explain Aquinas’ and Copleston’s Cosmological Argument

Finally, the third way of Aquinas’ five ways is the proof of God’s existence from contingency, which argues that God is a necessary being. Within this argument, Aquinas refers to contingent and necessary beings. A contingent being is an object that is dependent on something else for its existence: it cannot exist without a necessary being causing its existence. A necessary being is a being that does not rely on anything else for its existence but exists of its own necessity to bring other things into existence. From these concepts of existence Aquinas develops his third argument: We find in nature things that are possible to be and not to be, that come into being and go out of it- these are called contingent beings. Examples of this includes animals, as they live and die, as well as plants. For each contingent being, there a time when it does not exist. Therefore, it is impossible them to always exist. From this, we can suppose that there could have been a time when no things existed, which would mean that at that time there would have been nothing to bring the currently existing contingent beings into existence. Therefore, at that time there would have been nothing to bring the currently existing contingent beings into existence. We have reached a wrong conclusion about the world from assuming that every being is a contingent being. As a result,, not every being is a contingent being. Some being must exist of its own necessity, and cannot receive its existence from another being. It must cause other beings. This is what Aquinas believes we understand to be God.