RE: God is so quiet
February 11, 2018 at 6:45 am
(This post was last modified: February 11, 2018 at 6:47 am by GrandizerII.)
By the way, with regards to necessity vs. contingency of parts of the universe, this is where I probably part ways with most atheists and theists. I think the whole necessity vs. contingency is somewhat unnecessary at the end of the day, and that all things in existence exist necessarily, even when some things do not consistently exist at all times in all worlds (here, I am not referring to modal worlds, but to parallel universes or something similar to that).
My reasoning is that, if the wider cosmos exists in the form of an eternal block of reality (like the one posited by eternalism), then everything that has happened, or will ever happen, in one universe or another, is a necessary existence. I may not exist at all time moments in all universes, but all instances of "me" nevertheless exist eternally and necessarily. And so in such a case, the chances are good that it would have been impossible for my non-existence to replace all instances of my existence.
However, if we still want to differentiate between such things as the whole universe and its parts in terms of modality, then I guess necessity vs. contingency can still be a meaningful thing to talk about, so long as the discussion is contextualized in one universe or something and we are analyzing it from our temporal perspective. In this context, and from such a perspective, I would be a contingent being because I do not exist in all time points in this universe, and in other similar universes, I do not exist at all the corresponding time moments.
My reasoning is that, if the wider cosmos exists in the form of an eternal block of reality (like the one posited by eternalism), then everything that has happened, or will ever happen, in one universe or another, is a necessary existence. I may not exist at all time moments in all universes, but all instances of "me" nevertheless exist eternally and necessarily. And so in such a case, the chances are good that it would have been impossible for my non-existence to replace all instances of my existence.
However, if we still want to differentiate between such things as the whole universe and its parts in terms of modality, then I guess necessity vs. contingency can still be a meaningful thing to talk about, so long as the discussion is contextualized in one universe or something and we are analyzing it from our temporal perspective. In this context, and from such a perspective, I would be a contingent being because I do not exist in all time points in this universe, and in other similar universes, I do not exist at all the corresponding time moments.
