OK, here’s a version of the cosmological argument to think about:<\/p>\n
Premise 3 seems to be true by definition of \u2018ultimate\u2019. That leaves premises 1 and 2.<\/p>\n
In defense of 1 we might point to the Big Bang theory, which suggests that the universe came into being about 13.7 billion years ago.<\/p>\n
In defense of 2 we might suggest that if something requires an explanation and the explainer in turn requires the same sort of explanation, then all we\u2019ve done is push the question back a step, which, arguably, is not very satisfying.<\/p>\n
For example, suppose for the moment that the question \u201cWhat holds the Earth up?\u201d is a question worth taking seriously. Obviously, it will not do to answer \u201cThe Earth rests on the back of a giant turtle\u201d because we can meaningfully ask the <\/span>same <\/span>question<\/span> of the turtle (\u201cWhat holds the turtle up?\u201d). If we continue in the same vein, we generate an infinite regress (\u201cIt\u2019s turtles all the way down\u201d), unless we can find some way to terminate the sequence with a being that needs no support (\u201cTurtle #25 is resting on The Bottom<\/span>\u201d). This seems to be an appropriate ultimate stopping point because it doesn\u2019t make much sense to ask \u201cWhat holds The Bottom up?\u201d<\/p>\n Now, change the question to “Why does the universe exist?” If we answer by appealing to another contingent thing, say, a previous universe, they we merely push matters back a step, for we can ask the same question of that<\/span> universe, and so on. That may seem unsatisfying. But if we answer by appealing to a necessary or non-contingent being, then the same question cannot be sensibly repeated. “Why does a necessary being exist?” is a dumb question – it’s necessary<\/span>, after all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" OK, here’s a version of the cosmological argument to think about: The universe is a contingent thing (i.e., it cannot account for its own existence). Contingent things need an ultimate explanation for their existence. Whatever stands in need of a certain type of explanation cannot be ultimately explained by something that itself stands in need\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/alanrhoda.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/alanrhoda.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/alanrhoda.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alanrhoda.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alanrhoda.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/alanrhoda.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/alanrhoda.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alanrhoda.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alanrhoda.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}