I think the most shameful thing about his article was that he spent 100% of it supporting P2 (“The universe began to exist”), by pretending that he was a scientist, (because half his support for it was scientific). He’s not a scientist, and he’s not qualified to report on the state of the art in scientific research. The shameful part was that he had almost nothing to say about P1. Unfortunately, P1 is the problem. The other half of his support for P2 was about infinite regress stuff. I don’t remember finding it at all convincing.
If an eternal God is not objectionable, would an eternal universe be?
Except that which causes causation cannot be caused. “Self-caused” is an oxymoron.
What is impossible is what causes what is possible.
Imbalanced potential causes change and imbalanced potential is eternal because balanced potential is impossible.
Caused therefore requires “reason”.
Reason implies to think/ponder.
Reasoning, think, ponder and give the reason its purpose.
You look at creation, you see the moon and it is round or a circle. You question if the Earth is flat or a circle and therefore you develop the reason by applying a method. That method was to observe, document the passing of light into darkness. Therefore the human gave purpose to a system of time. They implied this purpose to the total of creation, yet the purpose is only observed from Earth.
Atmosphere = mass, mass is a theory of strings = sound, sound mass produces an evolved state = the self perpetuating instant = the immaculate.
Sound therefore via mass causes the immaculate to produce.
The immaculate = life continuation as the Holy State of observation.
Observer = astronomer, astronomer observes through the atmospheric sound and gains his own insight through atmospheric sound and therefore believes in his own observations made through atmospheric sound. Atmospheric sound therefore causes false witnessing because the Earth Life is the only Holy Life. Trying to imply the holy life to the cosmos was the greatest error that a human Philosopher ever undertook.
Helandhigh - in both cases, self-caused and uncaused, it must be eternal. Time is after all also part of it.
What’s certainly caused is its structure. The cause of this is implicit in its nature, what it is.
What I’m saying is that that it is is caused by what it is.
That is highly counterintuitive, but the only logical option.
That is what it is in general, but “in the beginning”, the original cause must be somewhat of a self-cause, as in ‘‘by its own principles it can not not exist.’’
The confusion is with the notion that there was a “time” when absolutely nothing existed and then the universe began. That is an invalid thought. But in the chain of reasoning, there is a beginning wherein a fundamental principle brings about all else. That fundamental principle is what was called “God” by those above the masses in their understanding. The masses anthropomorphize, not the more educated.
I disagree that it is the only logical option, in fact I would suggest the only logical option is its antithesis.
Alahu akbar.
Aga Khan.
the only true God if there indeed is one ontologically or it is necessary by etiology is reason and logic, anything higher than that is clearly beyond reason, beyond comprehension, ineffable, unreasonable, or unimportant, nay inconsequential, nay pointless. Pick an adjective it is clearly the sum of that.
Still ignorance is bliss, which is why so many chose to devolve responsibility to their imaginary friends.
“I refuse to countenance that God has given us the faculty of reason only to forgo it’s use.”
Some guy.
“Knowledge of physical science will not console me for ignorance of morality in time of affliction, but knowledge of morality will always console me for ignorance of physical science.”
The same guy who was probably referring if indirectly to the intellectually lazy, the ignorant, the indolent, the obtuse, the maladroit aka those who need to worship ononism.
“Allah” merely means “the sum of all spirit” also known as “Elohim” == “everything happening” = “The Situation”.
Also known as “the Holy Spirit” (aka “the whole of all spirit/behavior” = “The Situation”)
But I think I arrived at the position that the fact that it exists is due to what it is through valid logic.
I could also simply say that it could only exist as what it is and not in any other way, but that would not clarify the finite regression of causality.