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    Al-Ghazali and later Bonaventure showed that an infinite ... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→The impossibility of an eternal world cannot be demonstrated, nor can its possibility be demonstrated.

    Al-Ghazali and later Bonaventure showed that an infinite temporal regress generates formal contradictions, not merely contingent implausibilities.

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    1 reason for
    1 reason against

    Reasons For

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    Reason for
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    • 1.An infinite series requires a prior infinite series to cause it, leading to circular dependency that violates the law of non-contradiction.
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    • 2.Actual infinity (completed infinite totality) is logically distinct from potential infinity, and regress requires actual infinity to be actualized.
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    • 3.An infinite causal chain cannot explain why anything exists rather than nothing, as infinite members never exhaust explanatory requirements.
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    Reasons Against

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    Reason against
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    • 1.Formal contradiction requires proving infinite regress entails P and not-P; mere explanatory gaps don't constitute logical contradictions.
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    • 2.Medieval thinkers conflated metaphysical causation with temporal sequence; infinite temporal regress needn't involve the causal contradictions they claimed.
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    • 3.Modern mathematics handles actual infinities (real numbers, set theory) coherently without formal contradiction, undermining the medieval logical objections.
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    Connections

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    Modality & Possibility1 linkedSkepticism1 linked

    Related

    Actual infinity (completed infinite totality) is logically distinct from potenti...An infinite causal chain cannot explain why anything exists rather than nothing,...An infinite series requires a prior infinite series to cause it, leading to circ...Formal contradiction requires proving infinite regress entails P and not-P; mere...
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    Medieval thinkers conflated metaphysical causation with temporal sequence; infin...Modern mathematics handles actual infinities (real numbers, set theory) coherent...The impossibility of an eternal world cannot be demonstrated, nor can its possib...

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    claim
    Perspectives
    2 (1 for, 1 against)
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