10-23-2023, 08:40 PM
A small remark - arguments based on infinite causal chains, eg, regressing on the "... of cause of the cause of the cause of the cause of ..." to invoke the existence of an ultimate cause is tantamount to imposing something akin to well-ordering on causality, at least if causality is considered as an infinite set. In mathematics, even the conception of an infinite set requires axiomatic justification (eg, ZFC's axiom of infinity), and the well-ordering on the cardinals requires choice IIRC. Both of these are 'transcendental assertions', in that they cannot be derived purely from finitary reasoning.
Point being, in such 'proofs of god', an implicitly transcendental assertion is slipped in unnoticed.
Of course, one can always bake up simple alternative models where the transcendental assertion is false: If every real number is 'caused' by all real numbers prior to it - can there be such a number prior to all other real numbers? Of course not, since the reals are not well-ordered.
To a certain extent, this was the attack that Kant lodged against such 'proofs of god' in the Critique of Pure Reason, but it's a bit difficult to extract given his wordiness.
Point being, in such 'proofs of god', an implicitly transcendental assertion is slipped in unnoticed.
Of course, one can always bake up simple alternative models where the transcendental assertion is false: If every real number is 'caused' by all real numbers prior to it - can there be such a number prior to all other real numbers? Of course not, since the reals are not well-ordered.
To a certain extent, this was the attack that Kant lodged against such 'proofs of god' in the Critique of Pure Reason, but it's a bit difficult to extract given his wordiness.
