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    Every being whose existence is merely possible requires a... — Carmelics
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    Supports→The world is not eternal.

    Every being whose existence is merely possible requires an external cause to actualize it, as al-Kindi and later Avicenna maintained.

    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    1 reason against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.Possible beings lack necessity; without external causation, there's no explanation for why they exist rather than not.
      ?

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    • 2.An infinite regress of dependent causes is explanatorily unsatisfying; a necessary being must ground the chain.
      ?

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    • 3.Possibility and actuality are metaphysically distinct; transition between them requires an external actualizing agent.
      ?

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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.The distinction between 'possible' and 'necessary' may be epistemic, not metaphysical; all existence might be brute fact.
      ?

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    • 2.Why must an actualizer exist necessarily? Perhaps all beings are contingent, making the premise's conclusion circular.
      ?

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    • 3.Quantum indeterminacy suggests some events lack external causes, undermining the universal causal principle assumed here.
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    Natural Theology1 linked

    Related

    An infinite regress of dependent causes is explanatorily unsatisfying; a necessa...Possibility and actuality are metaphysically distinct; transition between them r...Possible beings lack necessity; without external causation, there's no explanati...Quantum indeterminacy suggests some events lack external causes, undermining the...
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    The distinction between 'possible' and 'necessary' may be epistemic, not metaphy...The world is not eternal.Why must an actualizer exist necessarily? Perhaps all beings are contingent, mak...

    Details

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    claim
    Perspectives
    2 (1 for, 1 against)
    Edits
    1 edit