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: April 27, 2024, 3:13 am

Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
The Principle of Contingent Causation: The Impossibility of Infinite Regress.
#1
The Principle of Contingent Causation: The Impossibility of Infinite Regress.
The Augustino-Thomistic Argument from Contingency and Necessity provides Basic Foundational Evidence for the Existence of Almighty God.

Let's define Contingency and Necessity. You, me, our parents, then theirs, the Planet Earth, etc all exist contingently, i.e. are contingent beings.

By Contingent Beings is meant a being whose existence or the existence of which is contingent, i.e. dependent on the existence of another.

Thus, you and me are dependent for our existence on the existence of our parents, all life on Planet Earth is contingent upon Earth etc.

Now, the argument may be formulated both logically and mathematically:

1. Now, every Contingent Being, by definition, is Contingent, i.e. Dependent on a Prior Being's Existence.

if we wrote it mathematically, for every Contingent Being, CB, CB(n) is dependent on CB(n-1); CB(n-1) on CB(n-2) etc.

2. But it is impossible for this series of contingent causation to go on until infinity.

Again, mathematically, this is obvious. If CB(n) is dependent on CB(n-1), and so on (and negative beings are impossible; we are speaking of real beings here. The nth Being in existence, the 2nd being etc; so also, there is no "zeroth" being; n must be a natural number here), then that can proceed back until at most Being 2, B2=CB2, contingent upon B1. [B1 cannot be contingent upon anything, since no B0, as we come to down]. 

3. Therefore, not every Being in existence is a contingent being.

4. Specifically, the First Being in Existence exists Non-Contingently. 

We already showed this above when we saw B2 is contingent upon B1, but B1 is not contingent upon any prior being, being the First Being in existence. [The only alternative to the existence of an actual first being is an infinite series of contingent beings, but that is impossible because an infinite series never ends; and if there were an actual infinite of real beings, we would never have gotten to the present moment; again, an infinite series cannot be formed by successive addition, because no matter how beings you add to each other, whether it is 1 or 1 trillion, n will always be finite. Therefore, granted that we got here, granted that we are 1 in a series of contingent beings, the number of beings in existence is finite.]

Therefore B1, the First Being, is a Non-Contingent Being, a Necessary Being, One Whose Existence is not contingent/dependent on a Prior Being.

Let's Debate.
God Bless.
Reply
#2
RE: The Principle of Contingent Causation: The Impossibility of Infinite Regress.
god is make believe. Complete, and total fabricated nonsense.

Just because you are afraid of humanity's meaningless existence, doesn't make your ludicrous fantasy any more viable.
Reply
#3
RE: The Principle of Contingent Causation: The Impossibility of Infinite Regress.
(July 2, 2023 at 9:07 pm)Nishant Xavier Wrote: Now, the argument may be formulated both logically and mathematically:

1. Now, every Contingent Being, by definition, is Contingent, i.e. Dependent on a Prior Being's Existence.

if we wrote it mathematically, for every Contingent Being, CB, CB(n) is dependent on CB(n-1); CB(n-1) on CB(n-2) etc.

2. But it is impossible for this series of contingent causation to go on until infinity.

Implicit in your argument is that a "being" of some sort or other caused anything.

Looks like begging the question to me. Reformulate your argument so that this undemonstrated premise is not present, and resubmit.

F for failure: assuming the conclusion.

Demonstrate that

1) this creator exists,

2) that he wasn't created by another something, and

3) and that this creator must have been a conscious being.

You cannot show any of these points.

Reply
#4
RE: The Principle of Contingent Causation: The Impossibility of Infinite Regress.
Great. Now you just have to show that any of these things are ontologically contingent, which you can't do, and so your argument never gets off the ground.
[Image: extraordinarywoo-sig.jpg]
Reply
#5
RE: The Principle of Contingent Causation: The Impossibility of Infinite Regress.
I honestly don't think this clown knows what any of those words mean.

It probably just copy pasted some William Lame Craig argument.

It has repeatedly shown that it cannot think.
It can only parrot.
Reply
#6
RE: The Principle of Contingent Causation: The Impossibility of Infinite Regress.
(July 2, 2023 at 9:07 pm)Nishant Xavier Wrote: The Augustino-Thomistic Argument from Contingency and Necessity provides Basic Foundational Evidence for the Existence of Almighty God.

[Image: AcidicNiftyArgali-size_restricted.gif]
I don't have an anger problem, I have an idiot problem.
Reply
#7
RE: The Principle of Contingent Causation: The Impossibility of Infinite Regress.
It really is absurd how theists interpret a single word, for evidence it never is.
"Never trust a fox. Looks like a dog, behaves like a cat."
~ Erin Hunter
Reply
#8
RE: The Principle of Contingent Causation: The Impossibility of Infinite Regress.
The Boidardi Argument from Contingency and Necessity provides Basic Foundational Evidence for the Existence of FSM.

Let's define Contingency and Necessity. You, me, our parents, then theirs, the Planet Earth, etc all exist contingently, i.e. are contingent beings.

By Contingent Beings is meant a being whose existence or the existence of which is contingent, i.e. dependent on the existence of another.

Thus, you and me are dependent for our existence on the existence of our parents, all life on Planet Earth is contingent upon Earth etc.

Now, the argument may be formulated both logically and mathematically:

1. Now, every Contingent Being, by definition, is Contingent, i.e. Dependent on a Prior Being's Existence.

if we wrote it mathematically, for every Contingent Being, CB, CB(n) is dependent on CB(n-1); CB(n-1) on CB(n-2) etc.

2. But it is impossible for this series of contingent causation to go on until infinity.

Again, mathematically, this is obvious. If CB(n) is dependent on CB(n-1), and so on (and negative beings are impossible; we are speaking of real beings here. The nth Being in existence, the 2nd being etc; so also, there is no "zeroth" being; n must be a natural number here), then that can proceed back until at most Being 2, B2=CB2, contingent upon B1. [B1 cannot be contingent upon anything, since no B0, as we come to down].

3. Therefore, not every Being in existence is a contingent being.

4. Specifically, the First Being in Existence exists Non-Contingently.

We already showed this above when we saw B2 is contingent upon B1, but B1 is not contingent upon any prior being, being the First Being in existence. [The only alternative to the existence of an actual first being is an infinite series of contingent beings, but that is impossible because an infinite series never ends; and if there were an actual infinite of real beings, we would never have gotten to the present moment; again, an infinite series cannot be formed by successive addition, because no matter how beings you add to each other, whether it is 1 or 1 trillion, n will always be finite. Therefore, granted that we got here, granted that we are 1 in a series of contingent beings, the number of beings in existence is finite.]

Therefore B1, the First Being, is a Non-Contingent Being, a Necessary Being, One Whose Existence is not contingent/dependent on a Prior Being.

Let's Debate op

RAmen
"For the only way to eternal glory is a life lived in service of our Lord, FSM; Verily it is FSM who is the perfect being the name higher than all names, king of all kings and will bestow upon us all, one day, The great reclaiming"  -The Prophet Boiardi-

      Conservative trigger warning.
[Image: s-l640.jpg]
                                                                                         
Reply
#9
RE: The Principle of Contingent Causation: The Impossibility of Infinite Regress.
Sure, you're absolutely right, and therefore god cannot exist.

Congratulations.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
Reply
#10
RE: The Principle of Contingent Causation: The Impossibility of Infinite Regress.
"The Augustino-Thomistic Argument from Contingency and Necessity" is rubbish. It claims that an infinite series of contingent causation is impossible, but uncritically assumes that a super-high-powered being of infinite duration *is* possible.

Even if it wasn't a pile of special-pleading pig excrement, the argument wouldn't validate the god of the Bible specifically. It doesn't even validate a sentient being as the "first cause."
Reply



Possibly Related Threads...
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  Fine Tuning Principle: Devastating Disproof and Scientific Refutation of Atheism. Nishant Xavier 97 6761 September 20, 2023 at 1:31 pm
Last Post: Foxaèr
  An infinite progress FortyTwo 185 14833 September 13, 2021 at 2:12 pm
Last Post: brewer
  Anthropic Principle vs Goddidit Coffee Jesus 39 5562 April 24, 2014 at 9:35 am
Last Post: Ryantology
  "The Judeo-Christian God Is Infinite"-Einstein michaelsherlock 7 3057 April 13, 2012 at 8:25 am
Last Post: Phil



Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)