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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
    Home/Original/inverse
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    Inverse View

    It is not the case that The aggregate of all contingent things cannot exist without a cause external to the aggregate.

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

    Reasons For

    2 perspectives
    Reason for 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.The concept of 'the aggregate of all contingent things' need not constitute a unified entity requiring a single causal explanation.
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    • 2.David Hume argued in the Dialogues that explaining each member of an infinite series explains the series itself, making an external cause superfluous.
      ?

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    • 3.If every contingent member of an infinite aggregate has a sufficient cause within the aggregate, the demand for an external cause commits the fallacy of composition.
      ?

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    Reason for 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Spinoza's monism entails that the totality of existing things is identical to a single necessary substance, making the aggregate itself necessary rather than contingent.
      ?

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    • 2.If the aggregate just is the one necessary being under another description, then P4's inference from contingent parts to a contingent whole fails by misidentifying the aggregate's modal status.
      ?

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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Every contingent thing requires a cause for its existence.
      ?

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    • 2.The aggregate of all contingent things cannot be its own cause, because a contingent thing requires a cause other than itself.
      ?

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    • 3.No individual within the aggregate is qualified to cause the entire aggregate's existence, since each individual is itself caused by other things within the aggregate.
      ?

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