RE: The Principle of Contingent Causation: The Impossibility of Infinite Regress.
July 3, 2023 at 3:51 am
(July 2, 2023 at 9:55 pm)Astreja Wrote: It claims that an infinite series of contingent causation is impossible, but uncritically assumes that a super-high-powered being of infinite duration *is* possible.
I don't think this is a fair assessment.
The argument doesn't assume a "high-powered being of infinite duration." It attempts to show that there must be one thing that is non-contingent.
Other beliefs concerning this non-contingent thing require other arguments, and Thomists are very aware of that.
Quote:the argument wouldn't validate the god of the Bible specifically. It doesn't even validate a sentient being as the "first cause."
You're right. And again, the argument doesn't attempt to validate the god of the Bible specifically, or a sentient being as the first cause. It has a very limited ambition: to argue that there must be a non-contingent thing at the origin of the chain of essential causation.
This is from Wikipedia:
Quote:Aquinas did not hold that what could be demonstrated philosophically (i.e. as general revelation) would necessarily provide any of the vital details revealed in Christ and through the church (i.e. as ), quite the reverse.
Any idea about Christ as God, or God as the God of the Bible, or all of that other stuff, requires additional arguments.
The Five Ways are more Aristotelian than biblical. And of course Aristotle knew nothing of Christianity.
