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27 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Which philosophers are associated with this? |
William Lane Craig and Miller |
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What were the 2 premises in Craig's argument? |
1) Whatever begins to exist has a cause 2) The universe began to exist |
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What does he conclude from this? |
The universe had a cause |
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What did Craig say about the 1st premise? |
It's intuitively obvious |
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How does he use Hume to support this? |
Hume never supported the idea that something could arise without a cause |
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What does he reject? |
Infinite regress |
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What is a potential infinite? |
This has a beginning and although it's not infinite, numbers are always added and it could become infinite one day. This is successive addition. |
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What is actual infinite? |
This is a group with an infinite number of members |
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What is the problem of actual infinite? |
Infinite + 1= infinite. This is logically impossible in a physical reality |
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What example does he use to disprove actual infinity? |
Hilbert's hotel |
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What does Hilbert's hotel say?
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If a hotel had an infinite number of rooms which were all occupied and a couple came along and wanted a room, the guests could all be moved up and they would fit. If this is so, then it's not an actual infinite, it's potential as numbers can be added. |
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What evidence in this world proves we don't live in a universal that is actually infinite? |
The Battle of Hastings was in 1066 and the Declaration of independence was in 1776. They are 710 years apart and these years were added, hence it's not actually infinite and must have a beginning. |
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What points does he make in the first part of his argument? |
The present wouldn't exist in an infinite universe The present exists and is a result of a chronological series of past events. The universe must be finite. This means it had a beginning. Whatever begins to exist has a cause. This cause is God |
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What is the aim of the second part of his argument? |
He seeks to prove that God is the creator of the universe. |
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What does he state about the beginning of the universe? |
It must be uncaused or caused. |
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What are the 2 possible causes? |
By a natural occurrence or choice |
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What do supports say about the beginning being caused by a natural occurrence? |
They say it can't have been a natural occurrence as the laws of nature didn't exist before the universe, so it must have been created by choice. |
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What does he conclude(quote)? |
If the universe began to exist, and if the universe is caused then the cause of the universe must be a personal being who freely chooses to create the world |
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What does his argument rely upon? |
The belief that the universe was created out of nothing (ex nihilo) as this means the beginning of the universe was the beginning of time. |
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What does this allow him to conclude? |
There must have been a personal agent existing outside of time who started the process of creation and willed the universe into existence. |
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Who is Ed Miller? |
A modern scholar |
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What basic steps did he summarise the argument into? |
1)The world exists 2) It can't cause itself 3) It can't come from nothing 4) It couldn't be an effect in a finite series of c+e 5) It must be caused by something outside of space and time, something uncaused and ultimate |
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What does he say the argument can be formulated as? |
A type of categorical syllogism |
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What is a categorical syllogism? |
A form of logical reasoning |
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What are these steps of logical reasoning? |
1) All contingent beings depend on some uncaused being for their existence 2) The cosmos is a contingent being 3) The cosmos depends on some uncaused being for its existence |
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Why does he say the cosmos has a beginning (quote)? |
If the world has always existed, then an infinite number of years has already gone by. But surely this is a self-contradictory claim. For an infinite number of years can never go by or be completed...If the universe has always existed, then it has taken forever to get to this point, But then it could never reach this point. But here we are?So it didn't take forever. |
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What is his point? |
It's impossible for the world t have existed for an infinite amount of time, it would mean an infinite number of years had already gone by. This contradicts itself, so the universe must have a starting point. |
