RE: The Principle of Contingent Causation: The Impossibility of Infinite Regress.
July 5, 2023 at 1:39 am
(July 4, 2023 at 7:32 pm)Belacqua Wrote:(July 4, 2023 at 9:42 am)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: None of this addresses the fact that at its root the argument requires special pleading.
~ Everything that comes to be and passes away is contingent.
~ The causal chain of contingent things cannot be an infinite regress (for reasons explained elsewhere).
~ Therefore there needs to be one non-contingent thing at the origin of the chain of contingent things.
Which part of this is special pleading?
I'll take door #2. It's a baseless claim. What qualifies you or any other person to say something six or eight or twelve billion years ago can or cannot have happened? It's a bald stipulation.
I'd also note that you've added two conditions to the Thomastic "logic", by stipulating "comes to be" and "passes", neither of which are in there ... looks like more goalpasting to me. How do you know that any prime mover is immortal? Looks like another suitcase job in play here.
How do you know your godling didn't "come to be", or will not "pass away"? You cannot know either. That too is special pleading. It's also trying to be sneaky, which I don't really appreciate as it smacks of dishonesty.
As a result of both premises being flawed, why should anyone be obligated to accept your conclusion?
Hope that helps ... but I'm skeptical. You're clearly hell-bent on believing in Heaven, for reasons of your own.
