Towards the end of my book on the Kalam Cosmological Argument (Did God Create the Universe from Nothing?: Countering William Lane Craig’s Kalam Cosmological Argument [UK]), I set out to succinctly list the issues I find in the three-line syllogism:
Let me, for ease of reference, lay out my main points of the book so far in a concise manner:
The Form
- the first premise is inductive and thus the argument can only be as strong as its inductive premise
Premise 1
- Causality as the universe itself (making the syllogism incoherent or circular)
- Everything being the universe itself (making the syllogism incoherent or circular)
- No things begin to exist since things are subjective abstracta which are causally inert
Premise 2
- the second premise is inductive and thus the argument can only be as strong as its inductive premise
- ex nihilo nihilo fit is a bare assertion with no guarantee it would apply to non-spatiotemporal dimensions
- Incoherence of even God creating ex nihilo
- Conflation of infinite density with ‘nothing’
- Universe as brute fact is more probable, given Ockham’s Razor, than God as a brute fact
- That the initial singularity on the Standard Big Bang Theory and the BGV are correct in order to imply a definite beginning, and that alternate theories have explanatory power
- It is more appropriate to remain agnostic over cosmology in this period of theoretic nascence
- Naturalism is a safer bet then theism for explanatory power and scope in line with prior probabilities
The Conclusion
- Causality in an a-temporal framework is incoherent
- Simultaneous causation is not possible
- Intentionality in an a-temporal framework is incoherent
- Simultaneous intentionality and action to change a state of affairs is not possible
- A perfect good would not intend to create and thereby degrade perfection
- Simultaneity is itself a temporal ideal
In setting out the objections in such a manner, it prompts amazement that so many problems can be associated with three such short lines!
I list them continuously here for ease of reference.
The KCA certainly packs a problematic punch for its pint-sized premises.
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