RE: "Everything has a cause and an explanation" discussion.
February 21, 2015 at 1:12 pm
(This post was last modified: February 21, 2015 at 1:12 pm by Neo-Scholastic.)
(February 21, 2015 at 12:31 pm)The Reality Salesman Wrote: How do you get from the existence of a rudimentary existing substance to classical THeism? That's kind of a big jump, don't you think? How do you know that this basic "stuff" takes a personal interest in the lives of a specific group of primates on planet earth? Classic theism?...Additional philosophical inquiry, dealing with final cause and purpose, is needed to demonstrate the divine intellect. The argument under discussion is just part of the necessary ground work to get there. It must first be granted that beings that are subject to change are contingent upon something more fundamental that cannot in principle change. To me that conclusion is inescapable for an intelligible reality. To assert the opposite is to undermine the very foundation of the scientific enterprise.
As a supplement the discussion about nothing, the original concern revolved around the tension between being and change, i.e Paracelsus versus Heraclitus. In that context, 'nothing' is the state of non-being which by definition cannot exist.
