The kalam cosmological argument of William Lane Craig

Cosmological evidence family constitutes an important part of the proofs of Isbat-i wajib. The hudûs evidence it is an evidence that draws attention with its characteristic feature in the cosmological evidence family. In the tradition of theological thought, both theologians and philosophers contributed to the hudûs argument. The fact that the hudûs evidence is based on the functioning of the universe and observation rather than abstract thoughts has caused the evidence to come up in every period. The way to comprehend the meaning and philosophical ground of hudûs evidence in the theological literature is possible by revealing the development of the evidence in the historical process. The hudûs evidence has gained a systematic form with the addition of new developments in every period of the historical process. However, in the last century, apart from theologians, the Christian theologian William Lane Craig has developed an argument that can be regarded as a form of hudûs evidence. The evidence that named as the kalam cosmological argument, is a blend of the hudus evidence with the developments in modern physics and the philosophy of time. The argument has been carefully followed by atheists and Christian theologians, and texts containing speculative and polemical debates have come up with criticism. This thesis reveals the development of the hudus evidence by the theologians in the historical process and reveals how the final version of the argument evolved into the theological cosmological argument by William Lane Craig. The Kalam cosmological argument consists of two premises and a conclusion. Craig supports the first premise of the argument with the causality principle, which is based on our daily experience. He aims to prove that the universe had a beginning with the second premise by using two philosophical and two scientific arguments for this argument. In the first part of the thesis, the historical development of the hudus evidence is discussed. Especially the last point of evidence which the mutakallims brought the it was tried to be determined. In the second part, Craig's kalam cosmological argument was examined in detail, and the main philosophical differences between the argument and the hudûs evidence were tried to be revealed. In the third part of the thesis, the hudus evidence is given in general perspective. In particular, criticisms which directed to the kalam cosmological argument are examined.