(May 11, 2014 at 5:59 pm)MindForgedManacle Wrote: I probably accept causal closure. I think I'd attribute that more to my being a naturalist than to my atheism.
On the one hand - yes - there has to be, within the confines of of our world view - a physical cause for a physical object.
On the other hand there can be non-physical causes in addition which are very difficult to relate back to the physical.
In the causality 101 example of the marble statue you need efficient cause (sculptor) and material cause (marble).
Now we could break down sculptor into neurons triggering, controlling muscle movements and so on which would yield the efficient cause from the material but I can't get from there to skill, talent, ability to "see" the sculpture in the marble before starting and so on.
At the same time if particles and sub-particles do appear "out of nothing" where is the physical cause?
Sorry for the interuption - back to the shopping channel.
Kuusi palaa, ja on viimeinen kerta kun annan vaimoni laittaa jouluvalot!
