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    Carmelics

    A reasoning platform. Break down any belief into clear reasons, explore both sides, and weigh the evidence honestly.

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    Made withinDC&Austin
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    Home/Original/inverse
    See Original
    Inverse View

    It is not the case that A chain of possible things cannot regress infinitely and must terminate in a being that is necessary in itself

    ?Set your confidence on the premises below to see your aggregate.

    Reasons For

    2 perspectives
    Reason for 1 of 2
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    • 1.An actually infinite series of contingent causes is not logically contradictory, as Cantor's transfinite mathematics demonstrates infinite sets can be completed totalities.
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    • 2.If an infinite series of contingent beings can constitute a completed whole, the demand for an external necessary cause dissolves, since no member lacks a cause within the series.
      ?

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    • 3.Ibn Rushd argued that Aristotle's eternal universe contains an infinite chain of generated things without requiring the chain itself to be contingent in the relevant sense.
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    Reason for 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Hume demonstrated that the move from 'each member of a series has a cause' to 'the series as a whole requires a cause' commits the fallacy of composition.
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    • 2.If the existence of each contingent thing is fully explained by its proximate contingent cause, no further explanation of the aggregate is logically demanded beyond its members.
      ?

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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Every possible thing requires an external cause that preponderates existence over non-existence
      ?

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    • 2.The aggregate of possible things cannot be self-caused
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    • 3.An infinite regress of possible causes would itself constitute an aggregate of possible things requiring an external cause
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    Strongest counterpoint
    Explore the most compelling reason on the other side.