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    The existence of the universe can be made comprehensible ... — Carmelics
    Home/Natural Theology
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    The existence of the universe can be made comprehensible if we suppose that it is brought about by God.

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

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.There is quite a chance that if there is a God he will make something of the finitude and complexity of a universe.
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    • 2.It is very unlikely that a universe would exist uncaused, but rather more likely that God would exist uncaused.
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Invoking God as explanans merely relocates the demand for explanation rather than satisfying it, since divine existence itself requires comprehension.
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    • 2.Swinburne's asymmetry—that God's uncaused existence is more probable than the universe's—presupposes a prior probability space whose own origin is left unaccounted for.
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    • 3.A regress-stopping explanation must be intrinsically self-explanatory, a criterion that personal agency (Hume, Dialogues XI) satisfies no better than brute physical necessity.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.David Hume established that causal necessity is a concept derived from intra-world regularities and cannot be coherently projected onto the totality of existence.
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    • 2.If 'the universe exists uncaused' is improbable, this judgment requires a reference class of universes, which is unavailable to any finite reasoner, rendering the probability claim empty.
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    • 3.The Humean tradition therefore blocks Swinburne's P2: comparative likelihood assessments between 'God uncaused' and 'universe uncaused' lack the empirical grounding probability judgments require.
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    Topics

    Natural Theology

    Related

    A regress-stopping explanation must be intrinsically self-explanatory, a criteri...David Hume established that causal necessity is a concept derived from intra-wor...If 'the universe exists uncaused' is improbable, this judgment requires a refere...Invoking God as explanans merely relocates the demand for explanation rather tha...
    +4 moreShow less
    It is very unlikely that a universe would exist uncaused, but rather more likely...Swinburne's asymmetry—that God's uncaused existence is more probable than the un...The Humean tradition therefore blocks Swinburne's P2: comparative likelihood ass...There is quite a chance that if there is a God he will make something of the fin...

    Similar

    The puzzling existence of the universe can be made comprehensible if w...87%The existence of the universe provides some evidence for God's existen...83%The universe has a cause of its existence.82%Therefore, humans cannot draw meaningful conclusions about the nature ...82%

    Source

    AI-extracted3/3 agreementValid
    SEP: cosmological-argument
    Richard Swinburne (1979: 131–32)
    View source passageHide passage
    In the first part of the 20th century, with the rise of Positivism, the argument was largely abandoned. C. ” But since existence claims cannot be logically necessary, the statement is absurd. However, he notes, within us lies a deep-seated question: why should anything exist at all? Smart does not know what sort of question this is for it fails to fit his conception of propositions as either necessary truths or empirical claims. However, he continues, this awe-inspiring theological question appeals to those with a religious attitude. In this, the cosmological argument is reduced to a mystical ...
    Extraction notes

    The argument is directly quoted from Swinburne (1979: 131–32) in the source passage, and the premises provide inductive support for the conclusion by arguing that God's existence makes the universe's existence more probable than it would be otherwise.

    Validity:

    Confidence: Direct quotation from Swinburne presenting an inductive cosmological argument.

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit