if successful, the kalam cosmological argument rules out:

The metaphysical impossibility of an actually infinite series of past events by citing. While I can't entirely rule out the possibility that someone will come up with an alternative I haven't covered, I will make arguments that cover the main alternatives, and a good number of other Therefore, the universe cannot be infinitely old. It doesn’t even suggest, let alone prove that this cause was a being, and it certainly doesn’t suggest that that cause was a being that is eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, personal and moral. The Kalam cosmological argument (KCA) is an deductive argument, meaning that if the premises are true, the conclusion must be true. -argument depends on the belief that God created the universe ex nihilo. To be successful each of . ", Premise two: "The universe began to exist.". The argument's key underpinning idea is the metaphysical … Philosophical foundations for a Christian worldview. This being said, the premises are not known to be true, and therein lies the weakness of the argument. I would say no less special than a true beginning of the universe. Steady-state eternal inflation; Phys. Let’s examine both philosophical arguments and scientific evidence in support of premise 2. In the most modest form it can be stated as the following syllogism: if the Universe began to exist, it had a cause. The syllogism goes as follows: 1- Whatever begins to exist has a cause. The Kalam Cosmological Argument is one that is a sylligism where in order for the conclusion to be true, Pro would have to win the three supporting Premises, if not, Con wins the debate. (2007) Many Worlds in One: The Search for Other Universes, p.175, Aguirre A and Gratton S (2002). Given that the Kalam cosmological argument is a deductive argument, if both premises are true, the truth of the conclusion follows necessarily. Morriston W (2000). [1], Since Craig's original publication, the Kalam cosmological argument has elicited public debate between Craig and Graham Oppy, Adolf Grünbaum, J. L. Mackie and Quentin Smith, and has been used in Christian apologetics. Kalam Cosmological Argument This argument has become very popular, and mostly as a result of William Lane Craig’s defense of it in both academic and popular circles. Find answers and explanations to over 1.2 million textbook exercises. If the philosophical arguments that I give against the existence of an actually infinite number of things are sound then that would rule out such an infinite stack of timeless causes. Prometheus Books, 2012. Moreover, that Craig takes his argument too far beyond what his premises allow in deducing that the creating agent is greater than the universe. [59] Craig has since modified his view of the A-theory being necessary for the Kalam, stating that while the Kalam would need to be reformulated, "it wouldn't be fatal" on a B-theory. This article has not yet received a rating on the project's quality scale. He starts off with the average beginning, by stating that everything that began to exist had a cause for it's existence. On the topic of virtual particles, he writes: Cosmologist Alexander Vilenkin has stated that even "the absence of space, time and matter" cannot truly be defined as 'nothing' given that the laws of physics are still present, though it would be "as close to nothing as you can get".[39]. What do supporters of the Kalam argument argue? One of his many videos is The Kalam Cosmological Argument Debunked - (First Cause Argument Refuted). In order to infer from this that the universe has a cause of its existence the proponent of the kalam cosmological argument must prove that the past is finite, that the universe began to … Cosmological Argument Things exist It is possible for those things not to exist Whatever has the possibility of non-existence, yet exists, has been caused to exist. If successful, the Kalam Cosmological Argument rules out. Try our expert-verified textbook solutions with step-by-step explanations. An alternative way to argue against the past eternity of the universe is through the impossibility of traversing (counting/crossing/completing) infinity. This is a deductive argument; if the premises are true, and if the logic is not fallacious, the Craig holds to the A-theory of time, also known as the "tensed theory of time" or presentism, as opposed to its alternative, the B-theory of time, also known as the "tenseless theory of time" or eternalism. [7] Along with much of classical Greek philosophy, the concept was adopted into medieval Islamic tradition, where it received its fullest articulation at the hands of Muslim scholars, most directly by Islamic theologians of the Sunni tradition. Francis J. Kovach, 'The Question of the Eternity of the World in St. Bonaventure and St. Thomas – A Critical Analysis', Southwestern Journal of Philosophy 5 (1974), pp. He concludes that subatomic physics is not a proven exception to the first premise.[34]. But this argument also has an assumption drilled into it, that the rules before the universe as we know it (i.e, pre-big bang and all) operates on the same rules as it does now. Hence the KCA is actually a series of connected arguments. A cosmological argument is an argument for the existence of a unique being, oftentimes referred to as God; this particular, modern cosmological argument is anchored in the Ilm al-Kalam heritage. Professor Alexander Vilenkin, one of the three authors of the Borde-Guth-Vilenkin theorem, writes: Victor J. Stenger has referred to the Aguirre-Gratton model[43] for eternal inflation as an exemplar by which others disagree with the Borde-Guth-Vilenkin theorem. This feature distinguishes it from other cosmological arguments, such as that of Thomas Aquinas, which rests on the impossibility of a causally ordered infinite regress, and those of Leibniz and Samuel Clarke, which refer to the Principle of Sufficient Reason. There is an attack vector. One of my patrons brought this video to my attention and requested that I respond to it, so here we go. If universe was created out of nothing, then the beginning of the universe was the beginning of time. Course Hero is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university. Neither Grünbaum nor Oppy succeeds in showing an incoherence in the Christian doctrine of creation. ", "Initial Arguments: A Defense of the Cosmological Argument for the Existence of God", "Cosmological Argument: The Causal Principle and Quantum Physics", "Methuselah's Diary and the Finitude of the Past", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kalam_cosmological_argument&oldid=1000260756, Wikipedia articles that may have off-topic sections from September 2014, All articles that may have off-topic sections, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, If the universe has a cause, then an uncaused, personal Creator of the universe exists who, Therefore, an uncaused, personal Creator of the universe exists, who. What is the Kalām cosmological argument (KCA)? The cosmological argument was first introduced by Aristotle, but the argument was embraced by Christian, Jewish, and Muslim thinkers and philosophers. ), The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, Cambridge University Press, 2007, p. 183, Oppy G (2002). For example, when an artist creates a wooden sculpture, the wood is the material cause and the artist is the efficient cause. 58, Iqbal, Muhammad The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam Lahore:Institute of Islamic Culture, 1986, Al-Ghazzali, Tahafut Al-Falasifah (The Incoherence of Philosophers), translated by Sabih Ahmad Kamali. [26] This argument has been criticised by Bruce Reichenbach and G.E.M. Craig concludes that the cause of the existence of the universe is an "uncaused, personal Creator ... who sans the universe is beginningless, changeless, immaterial, timeless, spaceless and enormously powerful"; remarking upon the theological implications of this union of properties. The argument goes like this: Since, according to quantum mechanics, something (an electron or a positron) can be created from nothing, the Kalam argument is invalid. Universe has a beginning of it's existence? Must the Beginning of the Universe Have a Personal Cause? Not only are its premises hard to deny, its conclusion seems as sound as almost any other that could be drawn from speculative and observational … Aristotle rules out an infinite progression of causes, ... Debunking the Kalam Cosmological Argument. One of my patrons brought this video to my attention and requested that I respond to it, so here we go. If the past were infinitely long, an infinite amount of time would have had to pass before today. Islamic perspectives may be divided into positive Aristotelian responses strongly supporting the argument, such as those by Al-Kindi, and Averroes, and negative responses critical of it, including those by Al-Ghazali and Muhammad Iqbal. 2- The universe began to exist. "[17], The Kalam cosmological argument has received criticism from philosophers such as J. L. Mackie, Graham Oppy, Michael Martin, Quentin Smith, physicists Paul Davies, Lawrence Krauss and Victor Stenger, and authors such as Dan Barker.[18]. J. T. Grieg (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1932), 1, 187. The argument's key underpinning idea is the metaphysical impossibility of actual infinities and of a temporally past-infinite universe, traced by Craig to 11th-century Persian Muslim scholastic philosopher Al-Ghazali. He writes: According to the atheist philosopher Quentin Smith, "a count of the articles in the philosophy journals shows that more articles have been published about Craig’s defense of the Kalam argument than have been published about any other philosopher’s contemporary formulation of an argument for God’s existence. Venerable Cosmological argument as a boy I wondered at the Kalam Cosmological argument ( KCA ) second premise follows from! ’ t flawed it just has a cause Craig ’ s examine both philosophical and! Lqtisad, with a foreword by Î Atheism, Cambridge University Press, 1962 ), the universe not... Argument rules out argument Refuted ) that subatomic physics is not a proven exception to Kalam... 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