PHIL 347 Exam 1 | Cosmological and design
arguments With complete solution 2024/25
What is the basic structure of the cosmological (kalam, craig, plato-philoponus) argument -
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1. Everything that begins to exist has a cause
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2. the universe began to exist
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therefore the universe has a cause ii ii ii ii ii
what is the first a priori argument regarding premise 2 of the Kalam - The universe has to
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have a cause as it cannot be infinite because that implies there there is an actual infinity of
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real events
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Why can there not be actual infinites of real events? - Because that would lead us to deny
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Euclid's axiom that the whole is always larger than its parts
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what is the second a priori argument regarding premise 2 of the Kalam - Even if we allow
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for infinities of real events, the universe cannot be eternal or infinite, as that would mean
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that it would've had to have traversed all through a past infinity of events, which is a set of
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infinite steps
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What are a posteriori arguments for premise 2 of the Kalam - Big bang cosmology, big
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bang singularity, empirically observed background radiation, thermodynamics - if universe
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is eternal then we would have run out of energy
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Russells objections to second premise of the Kalam - Set theory has shown that there can
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be actual infinities of real objects, therefore this undermines a priori argument that the
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universe needs a start date. This is based on the assumption that numbers are real objects
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and that consistency implies possibility
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Arguments regarding premise 1 of the kalam - Hume's objection the the causal principle -
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Hume rejects intuitive knowledge, and believes everything has to be proven with
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experience. Just because some things have a cause does not mean that all things do
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Arguments regarding premise 1 of the kalam - Krauss objection the the causal principle -
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Quantum vacuum, Quantum fluctuation proves that something comes from nothing
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Counter to Krauss' objection - Quantum vacuum is not nothing and therefore this does not
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answer the q if something comes from nothing
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Russell - first cause argument - If everything has a cause, then God must have a cause,
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why is God exempt from this logic?
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Mistake in Rusells first cause argument - everything that begins to exist has a cause, not
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that everything has a cause
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