Document Type : Research Paper

Author

• Hossein Shams

Assistant Professor of Comparative Philosophy, Farhangian University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

One of God existence proofs, is the contingency argument that proves a necessary being through contingency of beings. In the works of many Western and Islamic thinkers, the expression of this argument can be observed. The prominent philosopher and theologian of medieval period, Thomas Aquinas, was one of the first scholars that argued for this proof in western theology and philosophy. His expression of the argument in fact was a combination of occurrence and his causality argument and affinity with the contingency and Necessity argument in philosophy and Islamic theology.
The present study has aimed to investigate the strengths and weaknesses of this expression while delineating the fundamentals and preliminaries of Aquinas' Argument. The present study, based on Platinga's reviews, aimed to examine his expression of the argument influenced by Islamic thinkers, most notably Ibne Sina. Accordingly, the weaknesses of such an expression is revealed by comparing it to that of Ibne Sina.

Keywords

• God's existence
• Contingency
• the Cosmology Argument
• Aquinas
• Necessity and Contingency Argument