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

    It is not the case that The world cannot have existed eternally in the past.

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

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.To reach the present moment, an actually infinite number of moments must already have elapsed if the world is eternal.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.An actual infinite cannot be traversed.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.An actually infinite past would require completed infinite causal chains, but causation requires a determinate origin to transmit causal power forward.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.Without a first cause, each event's causal efficacy is borrowed from a prior event, generating an explanatory regress that leaves all causation ungrounded.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.An ungrounded causal chain explains nothing, so a world with no first moment would render the existence of any present event inexplicable.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.If the past were infinite, then for any past event E, infinitely many events preceded E, meaning E is preceded by a completed actual infinite.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.As Cantor acknowledged and Craig developed, a completed actual infinite in the physical world generates contradictions, such as Hilbert's Hotel paradoxes applied to real subtraction.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.Since physical reality, unlike abstract mathematics, admits of successive removal and addition, an actually infinite past entails real contradictions in the causal order.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Next step

    Based on where you are in your exploration

    Strongest counterpoint
    Explore the most compelling reason on the other side.