I'm going to tread lightly around this topic, because I don't yet know precisely what your paper assignment is going to be and I don't want to give away the farm. But here are a couple of general comments.
The argument is based around the idea that all things are either caused by something else (or, preferably, are explained by something other than themselves), or they are not. The latter possibility can be further analyzed into two choices: a thing can be explained by itself, or it can be explained by nothing at all.
The cosmological argument can only get off the ground if this final possibility is taken off the table. That is, if we allow objects to be explained by nothing at all, the question driving the argument-- "Why this?"-- is a moot point. Or at least any answer given will not serve as a proof of anything, because the alternative possibility-- that there is no answer to the question-- is always available.
It is the role of the Principle of Sufficient Reason to reduce our possibilities to only two: a thing has another thing as its explanation, or a thing has itself as its explanation. I anticipate that how the PSR accomplishes this will be our major topic for discussion on Friday. For now, please leave some comments with your thoughts to get the ball rolling.
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