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A-Level - Cosmological Argument

Total questions: 18

Worksheet time: 9mins

Name
Class
Date
1.

The Cosmological argument has been presented by...

a)

St Thomas Aquinas

b)

St Anselm of Canterbury

c)

Aristotle

d)

St Augustine of Hippo

2.

How many 'ways' does Aquinas present as proofs of God?

a)

5

b)

3

c)

2

d)

6

3.

How many of Aquinas' ways are cosmological arguments?

a)

3

b)

2

c)

1

d)

5

4.

The AQA exam board wants you to know, in detail, Aquinas'...

a)

3rd way

b)

1st way

c)

2nd way

d)

4th way

e)

5th way

5.

What type of argument is Aquinas' third way? (select multiple options then press submit at the bottom)

a)

a priori

b)

a posteriori

c)

inductive

d)

deductive

6.

What type of statements does the cosmological argument use?

a)

synthetic

b)

analytic

7.

The cosmological argument is written in Aquinas' book...

a)

Summa Theologica

b)

Proslogion

c)

Fear and Trembling

d)

The Republic

8.

Aquinas starts with evidence in the universe, that all things are...

a)

contingent

b)

necessary

c)

caused

d)

moved by a mover

9.

A contingent thing...

a)

doesn't have to exist

b)

has to exist

c)

is caused by God

d)

is moved by God

10.

The universe is therefore also contingent, so at one point nothing existed. This means there must be a...

a)

necessary being

b)

contingent being

c)

uncaused causer

d)

unmoved mover

11.

Everything cannot rely on...

a)

an infinite chain of beings/things

b)

God

c)

lots of gods working together

d)

something that is always there

12.

Leibniz argued that...

a)

we require full explanations for why things exist

b)

God must have created the world

c)

the Big Bang explains how the universe started

d)

the reason for the universe's existence is within the universe itself

13.

Leibniz called this need for full explanations as the:

a)

"Principle of sufficient reason"

b)

"Rejection of infinite regress"

c)

"Product of perfect explanation"

d)

"Need for proper reasons"

14.

For Swinburne, the most surprising thing about the existence of the universe is...

a)

that it exists

b)

how complex it seems

c)

how it follows regular laws of nature

d)

that God created it

15.

Bertrand Russell argued that the universe...

a)

is just 'there' and doesn't need an explanation

b)

doesn't have enough evidence in it to prove God

c)

needs an explanation but God is not it

d)

was caused by scientific processes

16.

Russell says that, if the universe as a whole has one explanation...

a)

then humans would have one overall mother

b)

then people would disagree with it

c)

then there could be other universes with explanations

d)

then it would be a scientific explanation

17.

Hume criticises the fact that Aquinas has gone from a necessary being to God. He calls this...

a)

an inductive leap

b)

an a posteriori argument

c)

a knowledge gap

d)

a premise error

18.

Hume also argues that ___________________ could be necessary.

a)

the universe

b)

humans

c)

parents

d)

planet earth