{"id":2503,"date":"2012-04-03T18:01:21","date_gmt":"2012-04-03T22:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?p=2503"},"modified":"2012-12-21T14:57:54","modified_gmt":"2012-12-21T19:57:54","slug":"infinite-regress-is-a-slippery-slope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/04\/infinite-regress-is-a-slippery-slope.html","title":{"rendered":"Infinite Regress is a Slippery Slope"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/p>\n

A friend of mine, who blogs sporadically as Squelchtoad, had a great response<\/a> to the NYT<\/em> review<\/a> of Krauss\u2019s book A Universe from Nothing<\/a><\/em> that I mentioned in the recent neuroscience post<\/a>. \u00a0I\u2019m excerpting Squelchtoad\u2019s commentary, but you should hop over and read the brief piece yourself:<\/p>\n

But it occurs to me that the Albert riposte to Lawrence Krauss might also work at least for the more na\u00efve versions of that theological argument. What does it mean for God to be a \u201cnecessary being\u201d? Well, some old school theologians would have said it meant He was logically necessary. That is, the proposition \u201cGod does not exist\u201d is actually logically impossible. But there\u2019s an Albert Problem: Why are there laws of logic? Aren\u2019t they themselves \u201csomething rather than nothing?\u201d<\/p>\n

If showing that \u201cGod exists\u201d is a necessary proposition within a given logic is enough to prove that God actually<\/em> exists, the logic itself, it seems to me, must actually<\/em> exist in some sense akin to the way that the laws of quantum physics exist. This brings us back into Albert territory. The logic is a \u201csomething\u201d that really exists rather than \u201cnothing.\u201d Why is there that logic rather than nothing?<\/p>\n

\u2026At this point the theologian, I think, is forced to throw up his hands and point out that I can\u2019t ask a \u201cwhy?\u201d question about things like logic and\/or metaphysics, the existence of which are a precondition for causation. Fair enough. But then \u201cWhy is there something rather than nothing?\u201d suddenly seems a whole lot less coherent a question overall, so long as the logic and metaphysics are taken to be part of the something.<\/p>\n

\u201cUncaused first cause\u201d is starting to sound like a much better answer than \u201cnecessary being.\u201d The theologian may just have to accept that he can\u2019t explain why God exists (uncaused), just that<\/em> He does. Frankly, I think that ought to be enough. That said, it\u2019s also why I don\u2019t find the \u201cWhy is there anything?\u201d argument to be convincing argument for theism. I fail to see how answering \u201cWhy is there anything at all?\u201d with \u201c(My specific) God is a brute fact\u201d should be any more persuasive than answering it with \u201cthe universe and its laws are brute facts.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I endorse pretty much all of Squelchtoad\u2019s piece (that\u2019s why I couldn\u2019t resist grabbing such a long pull-quote. \u00a0Whether theist or atheist, everyone has to bite the bullet at a certain point and accept something<\/em> without proof or cause. \u00a0We seem to (mostly) have consensus on some of these things (causality, the existence of matter, the existence of other minds) and diverge radically on others.<\/p>\n

Acknowledging this fact doesn\u2019t compel us to throw up our hands and let everyone assert whatever First Cause and knock-on effects that suits them. \u00a0If you assert a brute fact that isn\u2019t meant as a solution to a problem like the origin of matter or the existence of moral law, there\u2019s no way to contradict you, but your\u00a0assertion\u00a0is almost too boring to merit response.<\/p>\n

People have proposed a number of different First Cause problem, so we can compare them and try and see if some seem better constructed that others or if (fingers crossed) a couple actually pay rent<\/a> beyond the problem they were constructed to solve.<\/p>\n

If none<\/em> of them seem better than any other, then you may try just naming the thing you don\u2019t know<\/a> \u201cFirst Cause.\u201d \u00a0But if that seems like cowardice disguised as\u00a0epistemological modesty, then you have to decide if and when it\u2019s better to choose a<\/em> solution instead of holding your beliefs in abeyance.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A friend of mine, who blogs sporadically as Squelchtoad, had a great response to the NYT review of Krauss\u2019s book A Universe from Nothing that I mentioned in the recent neuroscience post. \u00a0I\u2019m excerpting Squelchtoad\u2019s commentary, but you should hop over and read the brief piece yourself: But it occurs to me that the Albert […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[104,13],"class_list":["post-2503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-epistemologyphilosophy","tag-dealing-with-uncertainty","tag-talkback"],"yoast_head":"\nInfinite Regress is a Slippery Slope<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A friend of mine, who blogs sporadically as Squelchtoad, had a great response to the NYT review of Krauss's book A Universe from Nothing that I mentioned\" \/>\n<meta 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