[Revised entry by Bruce Reichenbach on July 1, 2026.
Changes to: Main text, Bibliography, argument-strong.html, complexity.html, notes.html]
The cosmological argument is less a specific argument than an argument type. It uses a general pattern of argumentation (logos) that makes an inference from particular, alleged facts about the universe (cosmos) to the existence of a unique being, generally identified with or referred to as God or Allah. Among these initial facts are that beings or events in the universe are causally dependent or contingent, that the universe (as the totality of contingent things) is contingent in that it could have been other than it is or…

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