God as the Explanation of the Universe

Abstract

In this chapter I defend the second premise of the kalām cosmological argument, namely, that if the universe came into existence, then God brought it into existence. In defence of this premise, I appeal to a version of the Principle of Sufficient Reason (PSR) that states that every contingent concrete object that exists has a sufficient explanation in an external state of affairs why it exists. I argue, first, that we have a strong intuition for the PSR, second, that we have no evidence that the PSR is false and, third, that the denial of the PSR is inconsistent with atheism. I then argue that, even if the PSR is false, the incredible fine-tuning of the universe renders it highly unlikely that the universe lacks a sufficient explanation. Finally, by way of a conceptual analysis of what an explanation of the universe involves, I show that it must be God who brought the universe into being.