Kalam Cosmological Argument
The major modern proponent of the 'kalam cosmological argument', William Lane Craig, sets out the argument as follows:1. Whatever began to exist has a cause of its existence.3. Therefore, the universe has a cause of its existence.The second premise is in turn defended by two deductive arguments. Each argument reasons that it is impossible for the past to be infinite, because:i. infinity cannot exist in reality. When one considers the idea of either infinite space or infinite time, it is argued that one is inevitably confronted with contradictions and absurdities that demonstrate 'actual infinity' to be impossible. ii. even if infinity were possible, time could never in fact become infinite. Because time is formed by the successive addition of events, no matter how many events one adds together, one can never actually reach infinity.The second premise is also defended by two inductive arguments. As these two arguments rest primarily on scientific rather than philosophical reasoning, it is sufficient to observe that scientific hypotheses concerning the origins of the universe are highly controversial, the theories rema
Adding a First Cause beyond the universe itself does not necessarily solve that dissatisfaction - it merely pushes the dissatisfaction back a step to a Being who is equally puzzling. If Craig's examples appear 'counter-intuitive', it is probably because human experience only encounters finite periods and spaces. For example, if a library existed with an infinite number of books, each numbered with a natural number, when we add one more book we have no remaining natural numbers available to assign to it (Craig 1993a, p. If we are to accept the existence of infinity, we are being asked to accept absurdity. By removing the infinite number of even-numbered books we are still left with an infinite number of odd-numbered books, but by removing the infinite set of books numbered 4 and upwards, we are left with only 4 books with natural numbers. Finally, the identification of the First Cause with God is shown to remain unsatisfied. It is logically possible, for example, to count for an infinite amount of time. __________ "Time and Infinity", in W. Given there was no time and no space 'before' the Big Bang, the kalam proponent struggles to explain just how any 'cause' can arise, at least under our ordinary understanding of 'cause'. The argument now has no more validity than the argument: Paris Hilton is a star; all stars are millions of kilometres away in space; therefore Paris Hilton is (literally) millions of miles away in space. "First Rebuttal - Quentin Smith", in Does God Exist? : Debate between William Lane Craig and Quentin Smith (1996). · As the argument commits the fallacy of equivocation, the argument itself is invalid.
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Acceptance Essays
