(December 1, 2022 at 8:39 am)Belacqua Wrote:(December 1, 2022 at 7:50 am)LinuxGal Wrote: Having all your ducks in a row doesn't actaully cause the fall of one of the ducks.
Probably we should give up on the word "cause" because you're still using it in a different sense from Aristotle or Thomas.
In order for radioactive decay to occur, several αἰτία are essentially prior.
Among these αἰτία: there has to be something to decay. There has to be a universe in which it can decay. There have to be laws of nature such that radioactive decay is possible. There has to be time and space in which it can decay.
Anyway, this has nothing to do with Kalam. Thomas' "second way" is different, and he explicitly rejects logical proofs for temporal causes of the universe.
And you're still being obtuse. In order for anything to be the result of a collection of αἰτία then said αἰτία need to exist prior to the existence of the effect in question, except and unless there is simultaneous causation, in the Thomist sense. But the simultaneous existence of things, under Thomism, is not causation but simply coexistence. You have a lot of knowledge acquired over years but you have no clue how to actually apply it. Quantity, is not quality.
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