(March 1, 2015 at 12:09 am)Pizz-atheist Wrote:I should add, I mean it undercuts the "first cause, formal cause, and final cause" of the universe can't be this universe or multiverse because that could lead to an infinite regress or similar criticisms. Atheists don't have to claim the "Ultimate" explanation is the creation or that the creating thing is the creation; All an atheist has to say is the creating thing is analogous to the creation and not identical.(February 28, 2015 at 11:17 pm)Nestor Wrote: Ah, stupid me. I should have recognized them had I did more than skim through the quotes. I think I underlined all those when I read that masterpiece---the last one you posted is especially good.It's the part that stayed with me the most. Hume had a really novel way of framing the atheist vs theist debate that most people don't go with. His tactic could be used to undercut the cosmological arguments; atheists can say the first cause isn't the universe or multiverse but it "probably bears some remote analogy" to the universe or multiverse. Why not? The analogy is just as good as theirs. If the first cause can be like a human, then it can be like a universe or other natural processes in the universe.
It is very important not to mistake hemlock for parsley, but to believe or not believe in God is not important at all. - Denis Diderot
We are the United States of Amnesia, we learn nothing because we remember nothing. - Gore Vidal
We are the United States of Amnesia, we learn nothing because we remember nothing. - Gore Vidal
