RE: The Principle of Contingent Causation: The Impossibility of Infinite Regress.
July 22, 2023 at 7:32 am
(This post was last modified: July 22, 2023 at 7:35 am by Angrboda.)
(July 22, 2023 at 6:52 am)Nishant Xavier Wrote: Ok. So, while, I was away, I was thinking of another way the argument could be formulated: for a Being Bn, if it is contingent, it depends on a prior Being Bn-1. But Bn-1 likewise, if it too is contingent, further depends on Bn-2. And so on and so forth until we come to B1 and B0. Since we are speaking of real beings, there is no B0. Therefore, B1, the First Being, is non-contingent.
But perhaps these words "contingent" and "necessary" don't indicate too much to the average reader, though they are well known in modal logic and other fields. Very well, then, we will use simpler terminology. Let's use temporal/eternal instead. For every Being Bn, if it is temporal, it depends on a prior being in the timeline, Bn-1. Nevertheless, this series cannot go on backward to infinity (will come to why, and the objections raised in a minute), Therefore, at some point we will reach the very beginning of time, and the final temporal being, B2, will have been caused by B1. And B1, the First Being, is thus proven to be a Non-Temporal Being, an Eternal Being, the First Cause of the Universe.
Hence, Axiom I is: B1, i.e., an Eternal First Being exists, owing to whom B2 to Bn, i.e. the Sub-Set or Universe of Temporal Beings, began to exist.
This conclusion is confirmed by Empirical Science. Wikipedia says: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borde%E2%8...in_theorem
Quote:"The Borde–Guth–Vilenkin theorem, or the BGV theorem, is a theorem in physical cosmology which deduces that any universe that has, on average, been expanding throughout its history cannot be infinite in the past but must have a past spacetime boundary.
Regards,
Xavier.
This has already been adequately answered. The theorem requires classical spacetime which may not be a valid assumption and Alan Guth disagrees with Vilenkin about the possibility of a past eternal universe.
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