St. Thomas Aquinas structured the argument, following Aristotle’s formulation that there must be something to explain why the universe exists. Since the universe could, conceivably not have existed and therefore be contingent, its existence must have a cause that exists by its own necessity.
St. Thomas Aquinas observed that, in nature, there were things that existed in a contingent way, since it would be possible for such things not to exist, and that at some point nothing could have been, but if this was so, nothing could not cause anything, thus, contingent beings are not sufficient to account for their own existence and there must exist a necessary being whose exists by the necessity of his own nature and from which all contingent beings is derived.
In 1714, Gottfried Leibniz expanded on this, by introducing a similar argument with his principle of sufficient reason "We can find no true fact without sufficient reason" from this he formulated his argument as: "Why is there something rather than nothing? Sufficient reason is only found in a necessary being that bears the reason for its existence within himself."
*5.75”x8”
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*Matte finish
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