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title: "Bertrand Russell on The cosmological argument"
description: "Russell argued that the cosmological argument fails because there is no reason the universe cannot be a brute fact requiring no explanation."
canonical: https://opendoubt.com/people/bertrand-russell/on/cosmological-argument
source: html
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# Bertrand Russell on The cosmological argument

> Russell argued that the cosmological argument fails because there is no reason the universe cannot be a brute fact requiring no explanation.

Position

# Bertrand Russell on _The cosmological argument_

Argues againstPhilosopher, logician, and mathematician

Russell argued that the cosmological argument fails because there is no reason the universe cannot be a brute fact requiring no explanation.

In his famous 1948 BBC debate with Frederick Copleston, Russell articulated what has become the standard empiricist response to the cosmological argument: the universe simply exists, and that is all. The demand for an explanation of the universe's existence assumes that the universe is the kind of thing that needs an explanation — and Russell denied this assumption.

Russell distinguished between individual things within the universe, which may each have causes, and the universe as a whole. The fallacy of composition — inferring that the whole has a property because each part has it — applies here. Every human being has a mother, but it does not follow that the human race as a whole has a mother.

He also challenged Copleston's appeal to the principle of sufficient reason, arguing that it is not self-evident and may not apply to the universe as a whole. If we must choose between accepting the universe as a brute fact and positing God as an explanation, Russell argued that the former is more economical and less mysterious.

Key quotes

> “The universe is just there, and that's all.”

> “I should say that the universe is just there, and that's all. I see no reason to suppose that it had a beginning or that it requires an explanation.”

Continue exploring

[

Bertrand Russell

Full profile — positions, quotes, and key moments.

](/people/bertrand-russell)[

The cosmological argument

The full argument — stated fairly, then answered.

](/arguments/cosmological-argument)

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