Posts tonen met het label cosmological argument. Alle posts tonen
Posts tonen met het label cosmological argument. Alle posts tonen
zondag 24 februari 2013
On Philipse’s Attempt to Write Off All Deductive Cosmological Arguments (preprint)
A preprint of my academic paper 'On Philipse’s Attempt to Write Off All Deductive Cosmological Arguments' is now available here. Comments are welcome.
Labels:
cosmological argument,
paper,
Philipse,
preprint
donderdag 30 juni 2011
A Scotistic Cosmological Argument
The following modal cosmological argument goes back to John Duns Scotus.
(Premise) Possibly, there is an object that cannot have a cause,
(Premise) Every contingent object, possibly, has a cause,
(Conclusion) There is a necessary object.
The logical derivation is quite straightforward. According to the first premise there is a possible world that contains an object, let us say A, that is uncaused in every possible world in which it obtains. Now, due to the second premise, object A cannot be a contingent object. Therefore, object A is a necessary object.
Both premises seem to be plausible. Yet, together they entail an very interesting metaphysical conclusion, that is, the conclusion that there is something in the actual world that exists necessarily.
(Premise) Possibly, there is an object that cannot have a cause,
(Premise) Every contingent object, possibly, has a cause,
(Conclusion) There is a necessary object.
The logical derivation is quite straightforward. According to the first premise there is a possible world that contains an object, let us say A, that is uncaused in every possible world in which it obtains. Now, due to the second premise, object A cannot be a contingent object. Therefore, object A is a necessary object.
Both premises seem to be plausible. Yet, together they entail an very interesting metaphysical conclusion, that is, the conclusion that there is something in the actual world that exists necessarily.
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