Editing Cosmological argument (section)

=== Late antiquity to the Islamic Golden Age ===

[[Plotinus]], a third-century [[platonism|Platonist]], taught that [[Plotinus#The One|the One]] transcendent absolute caused the universe to exist simply as a consequence of its existence (''creatio ex deo'').<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last1= Gerson|first1= Lloyd|title=Plotinus| encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy | year= 2018|url= https://plato.stanford.edu/archIves/spr2022/entries/plotinus/}}</ref> His disciple [[Proclus]] stated, "The One is God".<ref>{{cite book |author=Proclus |editor=E.R. Dodds |title=The Elements of Theology, A Revised Text |date=1992 |publisher=Clarendon |chapter=Prop. 113}}</ref> In the 6th century, [[Syriac Christianity|Syriac Christian]] [[neo-platonism|neo-Platonist]] [[John Philoponus]] (c. 490&nbsp;– c. 570) examined the contradiction between Greek pagan adherences to the concept of a [[Eternity of the world|past-eternal world]] and Aristotelian rejection of the existence of [[actual infinities]]. Thereupon, he formulated arguments in defense of [[temporal finitism]], which underpinned his arguments for the existence of God. Philosopher Steven M. Duncan notes that Philoponus's ideas eventually received their fullest articulation "at the hands of Muslim and Jewish exponents of ''[[kalam]]''", or medieval Islamic [[scholasticism]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Duncan |first1=Steven |title=Analytic Philosophy of Religion: its history since 1955 |year=2010 |publisher=Humanities-Ebooks |page=165}}</ref>

In the 11th century, Islamic philosopher [[Avicenna]] (c. 980&nbsp;– 1037) inquired into the question of [[being]], in which he distinguished between [[essence]] (''māhiyya'') and [[existence]] (''wuǧūd'').<ref>{{cite encyclopedia| last1=Lizzini| first1=Olga | title=Ibn Sina's Metaphysics| encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy | year= 2021 |url= https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ibn-sina-metaphysics/#MetBetOntThe|access-date=14 January 2025}}</ref> He argued that the fact of existence could not be inferred from or accounted for by the essence of existing things, and that [[substantial form|form]] and matter by themselves could not originate and interact with the movement of the universe or the progressive actualization of existing things. Thus, he reasoned that existence must be due to an [[agent causation|agent cause]] that necessitates, imparts, gives, or adds existence to an essence. To do so, the cause must coexist with its effect and be an existing thing.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia| title=Islam |year=2007| encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica | access-date=2007-11-27|url=https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-69190/Islam}}</ref>