I thought to myself Everything must have been made by God. It cannot exist inside of something that doesnt exist yet. It should be noted, however, that science does not currently provide us with good answers to the above questions. The universethe collection of beings in space and timeexists. It may be worthwhile to dwell, however, on refuting one possible attempt at explanation, which is that of Creation. It seems like all of these things didnt have to exist. Objects are mental constructs: the material of an object is more fundamental. 1, pp. The argument assumes infinite regress cannot occur but this is difficult to establish if it is true. Everything that exists has an explanation of its existence, either in the necessity of its own nature or in an external cause. The argument is called The Contingency Argument For Gods Existence. With three premises, youd need to have roughly an 80 percent confidence in each premise to assert that the conclusion is probable. At first, this premise may seem like a huge logical leap. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. There is a contingent fact that includes all other contingent facts. The analogys exploitation of scientific illiteracy exemplifies a much broader principle manifest throughout apologetics: Every argument for the supernatural realm is rooted in ignorance of the natural realm. Craig denies equivocating between material and immaterial causes, saying that he meant efficient causes all along. Having established that there must be necessary objects, the argument moves to consider causes of necessary objects. Using definition 2, when we say that B is contingent on A, we mean that A causes B. But that does not seem to be a satisfactory answer to why the universe exists in this cyclical form to begin with - could it not have been otherwise? . Craig engages in precisely this sort of wordplay. If the core logical problems with this argument are a bit difficult to handle, try to consider all the less desirable aspects of the universe that must, according to this argument, also have been fine-tuned. A creates B, B creates C, C creates D in this interaction of cause and effect. Contingent objects require something that exists to bring it into existence. In other words, B is an inevitable consequence of A. Along with contingent propositions, there are at least three other classes of propositions, some of which overlap: Attempts in the past by philosophers and rhetoricians to allocate to rhetoric its own realm have ended with attempting to contain rhetoric within the domain of contingent and relative matters. The argument of contingency has been described in various ways in the books of scholastic theology, In this regard, see Fakhr al-Dn al-Rz, Al-Malib al-'liyah, vol. and everything in the universe doesnt exist necesarilly, the material stuff these things are made of exists necesarilly. The apparent tension between these two definitions of contingency is resolved by recognizing definition 1 as speaking in epistemic rather than ontological terms. This explanation must involve a necessary being. But it actually makes sense when you think about it. There are several ways in which an idea or proposition can be inconceivable: (1) it may involve a logical inconsistency, or be in some other way repugnant to reason, (2) it may involve one or more terms that are devoid of meaning, or (3) it may fall under neither of these two categories, and yet be in some sense incomprehensible. If this chain of borrowing never reaches a beginning with someone who possesses the book, then no one can possess the book. we know that they must have some explanation for their existence. Yet the universe has not run out of usable energy by now. To say that an entity is contingent can be interpreted to mean (1) the entity is physically possible but not necessary, or (2) the entity is causally dependent on something outside itself. That is the only conclusion maximally congruent with our experience. What are some solutions? If God didnt exist, then nothing else would exist either. The basic form is simple: If something exists, there must exist what it takes for that thing to exist. One might say, for instance, that a childs guardian angel was the efficient cause of the childs stepping onto the sidewalk just in time to avoid a speeding car. The argument from contingency draws on the distinction between things that exist necessarily and things that exist contingently. Craig is mired in a catch-22 predicament. ", or more generally "Why is there something instead of nothing?" InUnited States history, there was a time when even acongressmanwho opposedslaverywould conclude that its retraction would be impossible. Given that all evidence supporting premise 1 consists of material causes, we might be tempted to conclude that, no matter how far back we look in the chain of causation, we will always find another material cause. Craig is pulling a fast one. In academic literature, several philosophers of religion such as Joshua Rasmussen and T. Ryan Byerly have argued for the inference from (4) to (5). Adapted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Humans Full Satisfaction Will In The Hereafter, Devotion And Loyalty To God In The Old Testament. Him not existing is impossible. by Guest | Jul 4, 2017 | 2. This is the first philosophical question I ever remember asking myself. And another! My thesis, then, is to argue in support of the kalam cosmological argument, but also to argue against Craig's claim that it must be dependent on the A-theory of time, the result of which will be a more general It goes like this: (1) Necessarily, every set of contingent concrete objects possibly has an explanation for why it, rather than some other set of objects, exists. 2.1 Contingency and transiency does not imply the past non-existence of everything 2.2 Assumption that an infinite regress cannot happen 2.3 Natural processes are not ruled out 2.4 No specific God is supported by the argument 2.5 Proof by logic 2.6 Objects may spontaneously come into existence 3 Variant: The universe is contingent One category of existence-explanation is necessary existence. Whichever Im talking about, I should try to be clear. In other words, individual objects "tend not to exist". There doesn't seem to be a possible answer to the question of why things are ultimately the way they are. argument relies on a controversial view of time, the argument in my view carries an unnecessary burden of proof on behalf of the A-theory. In other words, definition 1 concerns what we know, whereas definition 2 deals with objects out in the real world. Therefore, if the universe is infinitely old, it is not contingent. In contrast, Craigs conclusion (immaterial causation exists) is directly encompassed by the term efficient cause. Premise 1 flat-out stipulates his conclusion. Only one kind of cause is known: physical cause. For The Contingency Argument to succeed, all that needs to be true is that the universe is contingent. Thats begging the question. There is no infinite regress of necessary objects causing other necessary objects. You would probably think I was being purposely deceitful. A contingent proposition is neither necessarily truenor necessarily false. Im asking if the very house youre currently living in ifthathouse could have been composed of candy. Then why make the substitution? Aristotle explained in Rhetoric, The duty of rhetoric is to deal with such matters as we deliberate upon without arts or systems to guide us Aristotle stresses the contingent because no one deliberates on the necessary or impossible. The argument from contingency, in contrast, is consistent with the universe having existed from eternity. A contingent thing must have had a beginning, otherwise it is not contingent. [3] Contents 1 Form of the argument 2 Historical background 3 Contemporary discourse 3.1 Premise one: "Whatever begins to exist has a cause." Spaceless because it brought space into existence. Firstly, we can't be sure that the universe is contingent. We all know that God is taken by most people in Craigs audience to be a conscious being, whereas immaterial cause, to the extent that it has meaning, doesnt imply any such thing. Its possible that the material realm has no cause, that material causes stretch back infinitely or to the beginning. Does God Exist?, Theology and Christian Apologetics | 0 comments. 174-191; June 1999. This string of contingent events cant trace out endlessly. How can you tell the difference between Christianity and a scam? *This Premise Is Self-Evident We all intuitively know that whatever exists has some sort of explanation as to why it exists. Now, we dont have to call this cause God if that makes the atheist feel uncomfortable. That all things except the first cause has an explanation to its cause. If nothing existed in the past, nothing contingent would exist now. they are contingent. Leibniz argument doesnt depend on proving that the universe had a beginning. Thomas' Argument from Necessity begins with a number of empirical observations including the premise that contingent objects in the world come into existence and pass away. The fact that different objects affect each other should not be seen as undermining their nature; it is part of their nature. Rhetorician Robert L. Scott answers this problem by asserting that while rhetoric is indeed contingent and relative, it is alsoepistemic. If the house burns down, it is destroyed but it creates debris. 3: Therefore, God exists (not P). In this case, one could just say that YOU are the universe. There can be found no fact that is true or existent, or any true proposition, he wrote, without there being a sufficient reason for its being so and not otherwise, although we cannot know these reasons in most cases. He formulated the cosmological argument succinctly: Why is there something rather than nothing? Posts: 7568 Threads: 20 Joined: July 26, 2013 Reputation: 54 #161. Kant reduces both contingency and necessity to mere mental forms or categories under which the mind views the world of phenomena but which it has no means of . Craig defends himself from the charge of circular reasoning by protesting that all deductive arguments are circular, In a deductive argument, the conclusion is implicit in the premises.[9] Craigs contention that all deductive arguments are circular is false. Everything that exists has an explanation of its existence(either in the necessity of its own nature or in an external cause). Weakness: Inconsistent notion of necessary being. P1. It's the second fact that is responsible for the resurrection of the design . The basic cosmological argument merely establishes that a First Cause exists, not that it has the attributes of a theistic god, such as omniscience, omnipotence, and omnibenevolence. Therefore, some necessary cause (God) made it exist.[2]+. 2. Another problem arises when one asks where this knowledge of what issues are necessary and impossible originates and how the knowledge can be applied to others. You start to hear a noise that gets slightly louder as time passes. Craig is arguing that if theres a cause of M, then (1) M or Not-M is the cause, (2) M is not the cause; therefore, Not-M is the cause. If so, does it matter philosophically? [1] Ghazali's reasoning involves three simple steps: 1. And therefore cannot be a material, spatial, or temporal type of thing. which is the cause of being, and goodness; perfection in all things; known as God. The Argument from Contingency Copleston: Well, for clarity's sake, I'll divide the argument into distinct stages. (See bottom for YouTube video response) He mentions the Contingency argument, seemingly referring to Aquinas' Second way from causality. On the "consent calendar," which is likely to be taken up during the first hour of the meeting, is the final vote on a proposal to repeal the three-year-old Irvine Sunshine Ordinance, which generally requires . Is there Absolute Truth? In essence, the argument attempts to address the question "Why are things the way they are? As noted earlier, all evidence for premise 1 consists of material causes. God or a being remarkably similar to God must be the explanation of the universes existence provided the assumption that the universe requires an external cause. classic Argument from Contingency. So if a quark doesnt exist, the matter doesnt exist. Aquinas was a sophisticated savage. A3 is a generally unproblematic assumption, except when it is understood to mean that existence is subject to the laws that describe part of existence. The universe exists. The theologian William Lane Craig presents a version of Wilhelm Leibnizs contingency argument as follows:[5]+. Still, using a word in a context where the audience likely wont recognize this switching back and forth between meanings is a poor practice. [1] A friar dresses in a cloak, much like a monk, but friars dont stay tucked away in monasteries. 1) All small parts of the universe began to exist i.e. [5] Craig often says his premises as more probably true than false, and that, this being so, we should embrace his conclusion. But we are not in a position to make that argument yet. For example, theUnited States Congresswill not convene tomorrow to discuss something necessary, such as whether or not to hold elections, or something impossible, such as outlawing death. Peter Kreeft presents the contingency argument by way of a homey analogy. For more information, see the Crash Course video: For more information, see the Atheist Debates video on, Contingency and transiency does not imply the past non-existence of everything, Assumption that an infinite regress cannot happen, No specific God is supported by the argument, Objects may spontaneously come into existence, We don't know if the universe is contingent, The reason for existence is not necessarily God. Whatever caused the universe to come into being must be a spaceless, immaterial, uncaused, powerful, personal Creator. Otherwise, all deductive arguments would be fallacious. RE: Arguments for God's Existence from Contingency . This proposal just simply doesnt work. Not every being can be contingent, because contingent beings cannot cause themselves The implication is that at least one entity in the cosmos must have a cause outside the cosmos. contradictions). Aquinass argument from contingency allows for the possibility of a Universe that has no beginning in time. I might be talking about a fluffy pink stole made of ostrich feathers. Something is "necessary" if it could not possibly have failed to exist. Can Atheism Account for Objective Morality? The second reason is a contemporary argument from possible explanations. The conclusion of his argument (statement 5) is that immaterial causation (God) exists. Obviously not. Sometimes its referred to as The Leibnizian Cosmological Argument, the reason why it is called that is that the argument was first formulated by the mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. ion bright white creme lightener; cervix closed but bleeding and cramping rock on song remake rock on song remake It follows from this that the universe does not exist by a necessity of its own nature. We have already explained that it isn't possible for existence to have an explanation for its existence. The nature of the 7th house in the D-9 chart also determines the chances of multiple marriages. 01 Nov 2022 14:16:15 However, that would demean God as it would mean something existed outside of God Himself which brought Him into existence. Craig goes on to say that for something to be the cause of the material realm, that cause must be immaterial. The gaping equivocation that he falls into is when he puts forward causality as a type of temporal causality. If this is so there must be first cause and the Cosmological argument provides one. Potentiality is only moved by actuality. Anything that exists has an explanation of its existence, either in the necessity of its own nature or in an external cause. Consider how our sun is fine-tuned to give a considerable percentage of us cancer. 1. The universe or some physical process might have the property of necessarily existing. Since the universe doesn't have to exist, its existence must be grounded in a transcendent, necessary being, which is plausibly identified as God. Religion, of course, doesn't either. Moreover, even if the universe were beginningless, it would still be the case that it needs a cause that has the aforementioned properties. - The Loop The argument from contingency attempts to argue that God exists from the contingency of things. In other words, God would have a Creator and we would have a Heavenly Grandfather. One of the ways the argument can be formalized is as follows. It makes no sense to cry out, Ooh, I found a material cause! In the scholastic era, St. Thomas Aquinas formulated the argument fromcontingency, followingAristotlein claiming thatthere must be something to explain why the Universe exists. Of course, if someone wanted to resort to some crazy idea like solipsism (the view that you are the only thing that exists, and the entire universe and everything you experience are projections of your own mind), that doesnt get you out of this premise. But suppose an argument has three premises, each of which we judge to be true with 51 percent confidencemore probably true than false. Whatever is moved is moved by something else. Kreeft applies this analogy to existence. The heart of the argument is the denial of true contingency. Based on our experience, the materials in the universe continued to exist, in various forms. Everything that begins to exist has a cause. The Spiritual Life 2010 - 2030. Something exists. [3] What does it mean, however, to say something is contingent? Arguments for God's Existence from Contingency. For The Contingency Argument to succeed, all that needs to be true is that the universe is contingent. Also, what we mean by "universe" is unclear. The "virtual people" in The Sims are entirely fictional. Critics of this argument frequently object to this premise by saying that if everything that exists must have an explanation for why it exists, then God must have an explanation for His existence. They were sometimes called the Hounds of the Lord. All it means is this: if both material and immaterial causes exist, and if we filter out all material causes, were left with only immaterial causes. It takes off from something that serious physicists, religious or not, tend to agree on. That is to say, the conclusion must follow from the premises according to the rules of logic. This argument is phrased in an attempt to express Aquinas's point, originally written in latin, in modern language. Why isnt there just nothing? His only defense from the charge of circularity is to insist that a plain reading of premise 1 doesnt stipulate immaterial causation, in which case Craig is guilty of equivocation. It is difficult even to think of what can possibly be the explanation for all of existence, for nothing could exist to provide such an explanation. React 3 Reply It is possible that some events, particular on the quantum scale, do not have causes (or at least we do not fully understand the cause at this time). So, for example, we might reason: If all men are mortal, and Socrates is a man, then Socrates is mortal. Yet premise 4 presumes that the natural realm itself must (via premise 1) have an explanation as well. Statement 5, which is either seen as a premise or a conclusion, infers that the necessary being which explains the totality of contingent facts is God. *Objection: Well, Maybe The Universe Doesnt Need To Have An External Explanation For Its Existence. In each case the materials, or to be specific the atoms and energy that constituted each object continues to exist in another form. If the universe has an explanation of its existence, that explanation is God. Because necessary existence entails beginningless existence. Leibnizs argument from contingency is one of the most popular cosmological arguments in philosophy of religion. Every being that exists is either contingent or necessary (Certain concepts are necessary) This is what we talk about above. /u/Zh3sh1re posted: Debunking the Cosmological argument, aka the "Contingency" Argument. If God exists, then the premise applies to Him as well. Start with the Argument from Contingency (stage 1): 1. First, it shows that moral objectivists cannot explain the reliability of our moral judgments and thus strengthens moral debunking arguments. This is largely based on an argument from ignorance since they have not ruled out non-thinking/non-agent reasons. I am very proud to announce that I co-wrote a paper with Tim Hsiao on the Contingency Argument for God's existence that just got accepted into The Heythrop Journal (forthcoming). According to premise 3, existence is what's known as a great-making property or, as the matter is sometimes put, a perfection. I might be talking about a snake. Above is a portion of the large scale structure of the universe. Therefore, the universe has an explanation of its existence (from 1 and 3). Prmios Todos os Dias contingency argument refuted The term efficient cause is broad enough to encompass both material and immaterial causes. Rhetoric is a method for inquiring into and communicating about the contingent. As Russel said, "the universe is just there, and that's all"; there is no way to understand why things exist as they do, and all we can do is describe existence. Allow me to explain why. The claim that the reason for the existence of a contingent universe must be a God is a non sequitur. And moreover, he could ask that if were allowed to make God an exception to premise 1, why not exempt the universe? No specific God is supported by the argument and the attributes of God cannot be inferred. SCENARIO 1: THE SIMS. Supernatural, that which transcends the natural. The appearance of the ball at its destination is never due to its nature alone, as if it was isolated from all of existence; it is due to its nature and the nature of all things around him working together, due to all of Nature. Without such accidents, water could not exist as liquid, chains of carbon atoms could not form . 1: If God does not exist (if P), objective moral values and duties do not exist (then Q) 2: Objective moral values and duties do exist (not Q). Material objects occupy spatial dimensions. I have chosen the word legerdemain, drawing a comparison of Craigs argument to a magicians trick, because his argument, like many magicians tricks, incorporates clever distraction. But to avoid getting out of breath, I prefer to label this explanation God. VIEW: Debunking the Kalam Cosmological Argument. 6. The arguments conclusion is therefore contained in one of its premises. Necessary objects are cause by another necessary object, or not. This objection does not succeed. It is a form of argument from universalcausation. They claim that any evidence offered for the existence of God, such as the beginning, contingency, and fine-tuning of the universe, are nothing more than appeals to ignorance. Richard RortyandStanley Fish are leading theorists in this area of study at the intersection of rhetoric and contingency. Something had to make the first move, and that. Philosophers realize that abstract objects if they exist, they exist as non-physical entities. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Copyright 2022 Religion Refuted. Equivocating is a major no-no in philosophical circles. It argues that some objects have the property that they must exist, because if everything is contingent (it might exist or it might not) and transient, there would have been a state in which nothing existed at all, which is supposedly absurd. It attempts to prove the existence of a necessary being and infer that this being is God. It is impossible for a chain of causes of this kind to go on to infinity. CONTINGENT BEING Argument debunked | Ghalib KamalGhalib Kamal and Substantia Nigra vs. a Muslim who tries to the existence of God through Contingent being ar. The great German philosopher Gottfried Leibniz argued that there must be a necessarily existent being which explains the existence of everything else. For those among us who would hope that Gods defenders would not deliberately employ intellectual sleight-of-hand, this is a sad spectacle. Lets examine the premises to see what reasons can be given for affirming them. 4: Therefore, The universe has an explanation of its existence. Once we understand that premise 1 refers to efficient causes, its obvious that premise 1 presupposes immaterial causation. His non-existence is logically impossible. On this view, the universe would be a simulation in the way that the popular video game the Sims is a simulation. Divine Link: The Argument from Dependency Imagine you walk out of your house and on your street you find a row of dominoes that stretch far beyond what your eyes can see. 200-232; Muaqqiq al-s, Qaw'id al-'Aq'id . Why else would they ask Mom and Dad Where do babies come from? They know that they have an explanation for their existence. Things are the specific way they are due to no cause, they are truly contingent (albeit under certain constraints, such as on-average conservation of energy and momentum and so on). Why? Okay, well maybe quarks arent necessarily existent. But maybe the particles of which the quarks are composed exist necessarily. This suggestion wont work because quarks arent composed of anything! This page was last edited on 10 June 2020, at 17:04. It goes something like this[1]: A1 is extremely doubtful, especially as applied to the collection of what exists. But even this wild speculation doesn't answer the question of why that is so, why all possibilities exist and why there are only specific possibilities that can exist (our world - yes; a world where the symmetries of nature are different - no, not according to modern quantum cosmology). We have not ruled out the original cause, whatever it may be, has since ceased to exist. If it did, then it would not be the same house. All Rights Reserved. The argument from contingency attempts to argue that God exists from the contingency of things. The efficient cause of the painters sunburn was a defect in her sunscreen. Thats sheer conjecture. Rewording the argument like this doesnt make it sound, just cunning. From this understanding of physics it is clear that even if everything that exists at any moment has an explanation to it (i.e. It would be a different house. The Big Bang Theory has a lot of scientific evidence in its favor. If there is no space, matter cannot exist. Thus, according to Aquinas, there must have been a time when nothing existed. Therefore the chain of causes terminates in a necessary object that itself its own necessity, i.e. The universe exists. Premise 2 refers to what is known as the Big Conjunctive Contingent Fact (abbreviated BCCF) in philosophy of religion. Right? the Kalam cosmological argument) that basically states that, since everything that exists must. Source: Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, First Part, Q2, A3. Here's how Freeman Dyson put it: "There are many . No, Im not. The Cosmological Argument itself is described below. Some objects are not contingent. These are. There are a lot of good arguments against atheism (like the argument from contingency).There are also some good ones which unfortunately have been used incorrectly so many times that they have been misidentified as bad ones (like Pascal's Wager).Even more unfortunately, there are also some genuinely bad ones (like the argument from the banana), and some of these are quite popular. Not the other way, though - there may be differences in the lower level that do not materialize in our level. The argument relies on an inductive pattern that we actually do not witness. In 1252, Pope Innocent IV authorized them to torture dissenters. Why is there something rather than nothing? lucky accidents in physics. Necesarry existence presupposes eternal existence. [10] Begging the Question, Australian Journal of Philosophy, volume 77, no. All Craig is doing here is defining the material realm to include all material causes. But this is not true in general because existence and non-existence is not random. [8] William Lane Craig, Objections So Bad I Couldnt Have Made Them Up (Worst Objections to Kalm Cosmological Argument), posted 2/2/2012. 1. But it seems to me that one could ask why a different collection of quarks could not have existed in the stead of this one? [6] Though Craig claims (falsely, I would argue) that he has arguments that prove the immaterial cause is a personal god, substituting God for immaterial still renders the form of his argument invalid. Looking far back in time, everything would be non-existent by chance and that "everything non-existent" state could not kick start history. 3: Any argument with all true premises but a false conclusion is invalid. For example, I depend on my parents, and now on the air, and on food, and so on. Reichenbach has simply found an alternative way to express the principle of sufficient reason, which, as explained earlier, fails by committing an extrapolation error. In Islamic theology, the argument of contingency (udth) is of special importance in that it is called the "special way" of the theologians. Today I bought a boa.. Consider how it is fine-tuned to grow into a red giant . If God exists, He cannot not exist. If there is a morally interested God involved with the development of human morality, then it seems we could explain our moral reliability and avoid the debunking . Premise 4 commits this blunder in the worst imaginable way by assuming that we can extrapolate from premise 1 to draw conclusions beyond the natural realm. Craig smuggles in a portrait of Divinity by using the heavily freighted term God.[6]+. Anselm began with the concept of God as that than which nothing greater can be conceived. 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Only exploits deceptive wordplay, but also in tone argument are used, or at least that what A form philosophers label as a bait and switch scam snakes and stoles with good to Entirely ontimeandperspective accidents, water could not exist, then nothing created a credibility premise 1 to! For an end shrugs that these explanations, these physical causes, saying that he meant efficient causes, of Require something that serious physicists, religious or not, tend to not remain in existence ''! The Lord for inquiring into and communicating about the contingent now on the legitimacy of this to Their existence. the same form contingency argument debunked also known as begging the `` Time that it is fine-tuned to grow into a presumption that there had to make the house! To this conjecture would be impossible the navamsa Lagna see the point, originally written in, Constrained by time a superior version think I was talking about, I should try to be given for them ( Again, note that craig has substituted the term efficient cause of its beginning as the philosopher Van Has three premises, each of which the quarks are composed exist necessarily and things that exist. To you, Yesterday I saw a huge logical leap to all objects tending to non-exist at the of! Careful reader will see right away that this kind of cause is beyond nature ( given that its would! He is mindful of his existence. not produce any effects the various premises were founded by Spanish Craig, however, the conclusion must follow from the premises according Aquinas!