The Kalām Cosmological Argument | |
Author: | William Lane Craig |
Country: | United States |
Language: | English |
Subject: | Kalam cosmological argument |
Publisher: | Barnes & Noble, New York |
Release Date: | 1979 |
Media Type: | |
Pages: | 216 |
Isbn: | 0-06-491308-2 |
The Kalām Cosmological Argument is a 1979 book by the philosopher William Lane Craig, in which the author offers a contemporary defense of the Kalām cosmological argument and argues for the existence of God, with an emphasis on the alleged metaphysical impossibility of an infinite regress of past events. First, Craig argues that the universe began to exist, using two philosophical and two scientific arguments. Second, Craig argues that whatever begins to exist has a cause that caused it to begin to exist. Finally, Craig argues that this cause is a personal creator who changelessly and independently willed the beginning of the universe.[1] [2] [3] [4]
The book is divided into two parts.
Part I provides a brief history of the Kalām cosmological argument as stated by the Kalām tradition, with special attention to al-Kindi, Saadia and al-Ghāzāli. Part II moves to defend in length the substance of the argument.
Following Al-Ghāzāli, Craig argues that this cause must be a personal will.[5]
Argument based on the impossibility of an actual infinite:
Argument based on the impossibility of the formation of an actual infinite by successive addition:
The first is that a) an actual infinite cannot exist in the real world; and b) an infinite temporal series is such an actual infinite. The second is that a temporal series cannot be an actual infinite, assuming than an actual infinite can exist in the real world, because: a) a temporal series is a collection formed by successive addition; and b) a collection formed by successive addition cannot be an actual infinite.