heretic888
Senior Master
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2002
- Messages
- 2,723
- Reaction score
- 60
Jay,
I would argue that an infinite chain of causality is a more parsimonious explanation because we already know a chain of causality exists and that it goes back several billion years. Furthermore, we aren't really given any compelling reason to believe that the chain has any predetermined beginning point. Even the Big Bang was supposed to have subatomic particles of matter and antimatter in its womb.
By contrast, we do not necessarily know that an external Creator or Designer exists. Furthermore, as many physicists and biologists have demonstrated, the universe does not appear to have been 'designed' with any moderate degree of intelligence --- whether we're talking about comets that hit planets like Earth and wipe out all life or human appendices. This means that if there is an Unmoved Mover, then it is either: a) impersonal, b) stupid, or c) malevolent.
Personally, I don't think its really that big of a deal either way. I go with the idea that ultimate nature of reality is Emptiness (to borrow from Mahayana Buddhism) or Luminous Darkness (to borrow from Christian mysticism). I also find Meister Eckhart's explanation of time and creation to be much more compelling than St. Aquinas'.
But, hey, that's just me.
Laterz.
I would argue that an infinite chain of causality is a more parsimonious explanation because we already know a chain of causality exists and that it goes back several billion years. Furthermore, we aren't really given any compelling reason to believe that the chain has any predetermined beginning point. Even the Big Bang was supposed to have subatomic particles of matter and antimatter in its womb.
By contrast, we do not necessarily know that an external Creator or Designer exists. Furthermore, as many physicists and biologists have demonstrated, the universe does not appear to have been 'designed' with any moderate degree of intelligence --- whether we're talking about comets that hit planets like Earth and wipe out all life or human appendices. This means that if there is an Unmoved Mover, then it is either: a) impersonal, b) stupid, or c) malevolent.
Personally, I don't think its really that big of a deal either way. I go with the idea that ultimate nature of reality is Emptiness (to borrow from Mahayana Buddhism) or Luminous Darkness (to borrow from Christian mysticism). I also find Meister Eckhart's explanation of time and creation to be much more compelling than St. Aquinas'.
But, hey, that's just me.
Laterz.
