Our server costs ~$56 per month to run. Please consider donating or becoming a Patron to help keep the site running. Help us gain new members by following us on Twitter and liking our page on Facebook!
Current time: July 23, 2025, 8:02 pm

Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
The Principle of Contingent Causation: The Impossibility of Infinite Regress.
RE: The Principle of Contingent Causation: The Impossibility of Infinite Regress.
(July 5, 2023 at 1:53 pm)polymath257 Wrote:
(July 5, 2023 at 9:56 am)Belacqua Wrote: I'm curious why you thought you needed to tell me this.

What have I said which indicates that I don't understand it, or believe otherwise?

Did you continue to read on? The point is that natural laws (for example, of causation) are an underpinning of the notion of dependence.

Put another way, what does the concept of dependence (and thereby the notion of contingency) depend upon?

Nobody's challenging any natural laws, as far as I know. 

I agree that "dependence" is probably clearer for modern people than Aristotle's term translated as "cause." The traditional English would be "X is caused by A, B, and C." But you're right that "X depends for its continued existence on A, B, and C" would be closer to the meaning for modern people. 

What does the concept of dependence depend on? You mean the idea of it in my brain? I guess it depends on 1) my observation that things depend on other things, and 2) the many people who have written about dependency in the world. That's how the concept got into my mind.

An essential series of causation, or of dependency, certainly isn't any sort of magical thing.
Reply



Messages In This Thread
RE: The Principle of Contingent Causation: The Impossibility of Infinite Regress. - by Belacqua - July 5, 2023 at 9:24 pm

Possibly Related Threads...
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  Fine Tuning Principle: Devastating Disproof and Scientific Refutation of Atheism. Nishant Xavier 97 14919 September 20, 2023 at 1:31 pm
Last Post: Silver
  An infinite progress FortyTwo 185 27142 September 13, 2021 at 2:12 pm
Last Post: brewer
  Anthropic Principle vs Goddidit Coffee Jesus 39 8078 April 24, 2014 at 9:35 am
Last Post: Ryantology
  "The Judeo-Christian God Is Infinite"-Einstein michaelsherlock 7 3623 April 13, 2012 at 8:25 am
Last Post: Phil



Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)