Tuesday, December 13, 2011

The Aristotelian Cosmological Argument (ACA) - Revised

I like to revise and rephrase these arguments from time to time, so please forgive me if you've read something similar here a hundred times before.

1. Every contingent entity has a sustaining cause. (Premise)

2. Either there is a necessary first cause, or the regress of contingent sustaining causes is infinite. (Implied by 1)

3. The regress of contingent sustaining causes cannot be infinite. (Premise)

4. Therefore, a necessary first cause exists. (From 2 and 3)

This "necessary first cause" is synonymous with the "ground of being," which is God to those of us with a theistic persuasion.

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