8 /10 1 Votes8
Language English Pages 216 Originally published 1979 Page count 216 | 4/5 Goodreads Publication date 1979 ISBN 0-06-491308-2 Subjects Philosophy, Religion | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Publisher Barnes & Noble, New York Similar Works by William Lane Craig, God books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Kalām Cosmological Argument (KCA) is a book written by William Lane Craig. It comprises a contemporary defense of the Kalām cosmological argument. The book purports to establish the existence of God based upon the alleged metaphysical impossibility of an infinite regress of past events. According to the KCA, given that an infinite temporal regress is metaphysically impossible and that everything that begins to exist has a cause of its existence. In a further analysis Craig's book discloses that this cause is a personal creator who changelessly and independently willed the beginning of the universe.
Contents
Contents
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.
Basic argument
- Whatever begins to exist, has a cause of its existence (i.e. something has caused it to start existing).
- The universe began to exist. i.e., the temporal regress of events is finite.
- Therefore, the universe has a cause.
Following Al-Ghāzāli, Craig argues that this cause must be a personal will.
First sub-set of arguments
Argument based on the impossibility of an actual infinite:
- An actual infinite cannot exist.
- An infinite temporal regress of events is an actual infinite.
- Therefore, an infinite temporal regress of events cannot exist.
Second sub-set of arguments
Argument based on the impossibility of the formation of an actual infinite by successive addition:
- A collection formed by successive addition cannot be an actual infinite.
- The temporal series of past events is a collection formed by successive addition.
- Therefore, the temporal series of past events cannot be actually infinite.
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.
Editions
- The Kalām Cosmological Argument. London: McMillan Press. 1979. ISBN 9780333248096.
- The Kalām Cosmological Argument. New York: Barnes & Noble. 1979. ISBN 9780064913089.
- The Kalām Cosmological Argument. Eugene: Wipf and Stock. 2000. ISBN 9781579104382.