WHERE WE ARE AT

In Part 29,  I criticized Phase 1 of Peter Kreeft’s Argument #6: the Kalam Cosmological Argument.  In this post, I will begin to analyze and evaluate Phase 2 of Argument #6.

Phase 1 of the Kalam Cosmological Argument goes like this (HCA, p.58):

1. Whatever begins to exist has a cause of its coming into being.

2. The universe began to exist.

THEREFORE:

3. The universe has a cause of its coming into being.

Based on the conclusion of this argument, Kreeft lays out further reasoning in support of these conclusions:

4. The cause of the coming into being of the universe is eternal.

5. The cause of the coming into being of the universe was a person.

THE ARGUMENT FOR THE CAUSE OF THE UNIVERSE BEING ETERNAL

Here is a summary of Kreeft’s reasoning in support of claim (4):

3. The universe has a cause of its coming into being.

10. IF the universe has a cause of its coming into being, THEN the cause of the coming into being of the universe is the cause of the entire universe of space and time.

11. IF the cause of the coming into being of the universe is the cause of the entire universe of space and time, THEN the cause of the coming into being of the universe must be outside the limitations and constraints of space and time.

THEREFORE:

12. The cause of the coming into being of the universe must be outside the limitations and constraints of space and time.

A.  Anything that is outside the limitations and constraints of space and time is eternal.

THEREFORE:

4. The cause of the coming into being of the universe is eternal.

EVALUATION OF THE ARGUMENT FOR THE CAUSE OF THE UNIVERSE BEING ETERNAL

Premise (3) appears to be true, assuming the following definition of “the universe”, which comes from Kreeft’s definition plus some clarifications that Kreeft provided via email:

X is “the universe” IF AND ONLY IF:

X is the collection of all of the things that currently exist in both space and in time.

So, the first two premises of the argument for the cause of the beginning of “the universe” being eternal should be interpreted this way:

3a. The collection of all of the things that currently exist in both space and in time has a cause of its coming into being.

10a. IF the collection of all of the things that currently exist in both space and in time has a cause of its coming into being, THEN the cause of the coming into being of the collection of all of the things that currently exist in both space and in time is the cause of the entire universe of space and time.

The phrase “the entire universe of space and time” in the consequent of premise (10a) is ambiguous.  On the one hand, the word “entire” could be read simply as emphasizing the notion of “all” in the previous phrase “the collection of all of the things…”.  In that case,  (10a) is TRUE because the consequent of (10a) is a tautology, making (10a) itself a tautology.

On the other hand, the word “entire” could be read as referring to everything in the entire history of things that have existed in both space and in time.  In that case, (10a) would be making a substantial claim, but a claim that appears to be FALSE.  The antecedent of premise (10a) talks about a cause of the “collection of all of the things” that CURRENTLY EXIST “in both space and in time”, so if the consequent of (10a) is talking about a cause of the “collection of all of the things” that HAVE EVER EXISTED “in both space and in time,” then the consequent of (10a) goes well beyond the information provided in the antecedent.

There is no good reason to believe that the cause of what currently exists in both space and time  must also be the cause of everything that has ever existed in both space and in time.  That is clearly a hasty generalization, and is NOT a logical implication of the antecedent of (10a).  Thus, on this interpretation, premise (10a) is FALSE.

But if we interpret the consequent of (10a) to be merely a tautology, then we should restate (10a) to make the tautology obvious:

10b. IF the collection of all of the things that currently exist in both space and in time has a cause of its coming into being, THEN the cause of the coming into being of the collection of all of the things that currently exist in both space and in time is the cause of the coming into being of the collection of all of the things that currently exist in both space and in time.

This is clearly an uninformative and useless premise, and in order to make this premise logically connect with premise (11), we would need to restate (11) in similar terms:

11b. IF the cause of the coming into being of the collection of all of the things that currently exist in both space and in time is the cause of the coming into being of the collection of all of the things that currently exist in both space and in time, THEN the cause of the coming into being of the collection of all of the things that currently exist in both space and in time must be outside the limitations and constraints of space and time.

On this interpretation premise (11b) is FALSE, because although the antecedent of (11b) is necessarily true, the consequent can be false, and we have good reason to believe that the consequent of (11b) is in fact false, so (11b) is itself FALSE.

As I argued in Part 29, “the collection of all of the things that currently exist in both space and in time” did not begin to exist until about 400 million years after the Big Bang, because the first galaxies began to form about 400 million years after the Big Bang.  Galaxies are about the largest and most significant “things” that currently exist, and none of the galaxies that currently exist existed prior to about 400 million years after the Big Bang.  Thus, “the collection of all of the things that currently exist in both space and in time” did not begin to exist until the first galaxies began to exist.

But the cause (or causes) of the coming into being of the first galaxies was NOT something “outside the limitations and constraints of space and time”.  For example, the process of star formation is an important part of the “cause” of the formation of galaxies.  But stars did not develop until about 100 million years after the Big Bang, so the development of stars took place INSIDE of space and INSIDE of time.  We have good reason to believe that the cause (or causes) of the coming into being of galaxies were perfectly natural causes that existed both in space and in time.

CONCLUSION

Premise (11b) is clearly FALSE.  But in order to make use of premise (10b), we must interpret premise (11) to mean what (11b) means.  So, either premise (10)  is a true claim but a tautology and premise (11) is a FALSE premise, or else premise (10) makes a more substantial claim and premise (10) is itself a FALSE premise.  Therefore, either premise (10) is FALSE or else premise (11) is FALSE, and in either case, the Argument for the Cause of the Universe Being Eternal is UNSOUND, and should be rejected.

Furthermore, as I have previously indicated, if this argument were SOUND, that would mean that Argument #6 proves the existence of a being that is OUTSIDE OF TIME, and such a being cannot change, and thus cannot be a person, and cannot be the creator of anything, and therefore cannot be God.  So, if Phase 1 of Argument #6 was a SOUND argument, and if the Phase 2 Argument for the Cause of the Universe being Eternal was also SOUND, then Argument #6 would prove the existence of a being that is clearly NOT God.

If Argument #6 is UNSOUND, then the argument FAILS.  If Argument #6 is SOUND, then the argument FAILS.  Either way, Argument #6 FAILS to show that God exists.