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... needed to ascertain the first causes qualities. The causal argument is only meant to be an important step in proving Gods existence. The main disagreement about the causal argument centers on the infinite series paradox. Aquinas states that to imply an infinite series is not only illogical, it also implies that nothing exists. Yet we know that things do exist, hence the infinite series is wrong.
Let me explain a little better, Aquinas reasoned that whenever we take away the cause the effect is sequentially removed. By maintaining that the series is infinite we are denying that the series has a first cause. Like on the alphabet, if you are denying the existence of the first cause, which is A, we are also denying the existence of Z. Since without A, Z cannot exist. Critics respond to Aquinas reasoning by stating that he did not sufficiently distinguish between 1) A does not exist, and 2) A is not uncaused When you are stating that a series is infinite you are implying statement one, not two. The critics go on to say that they are not at all refuting the existence of A, but merely stripping it of its privileged status of first cause.
Since they are stripping A of its first causeless, but allowing it to exist, they are in no way committing themselves to the absurdity that nothing exists. John Locke tries to counter this by saying that anyone who denies the conclusion of an eternal being, is committed to the absurdity that things came into existence from nothing. Philosophers answer this question by pointing out that an infinite series of causes always allow for something to exist. They then indicate that Locke failed to distinguish between 1. ) There was a time at which nothing existed, and 2. ) There is nothing, which did not have a beginning The existence of an eternal source is committed to the second cause not the first. Another way of saying it is that they are committed to the idea that no matter how far back one goes in a causal series one will never find a thing without a beginning. Critics of the causal argument criticize it on other points as well.
The argument does not show that all various causal series in the universe ultimately merge, thus they never really rule out the notion of a plurality of first causes. Nor do they establish the present existence of the first cause. We know that an effect may exist long after its cause has been destroyed. From here defenders of the argument insist that some of the criticism rest on a misunderstanding of the argument itself. They go on to distinguish between two types of causes In Field and In Esse. In Field is the cause that brought or helped bring an effect into existence; In Esse is the cause that sustains the effect.
Now here we see some type of consensus, the defenders say that it is logical to have an infinite series of in field causes but not of in esse. This reorganization of causes eliminates one of the previously mentioned objections, proving the present and not merely the past experience of a first cause. For if Y is the in esse of an effect, then it must exist as long as Z exists. So to maintain that all natural and phenomenal objects require a cause in field is not implausible. John Stuart Mills and other philosophers state that to claim that all natural objects require a cause in esse is illogical. Forces such as gravity, or particles, show no causes in esse.
While most will grant particles did not cause themselves, it is not evident that these particles cannot be uncaused. Professor Philips admits that there is nothing self-evident about the proposition that everything must have a cause in esse. From this comment I am reminded about a snide remark Schopenhauer made about how the cosmological arguments treats the law of causation like a hired cab which we dismiss when we reach our destination (1). Back to the subject at hand, opponents of the argument state that after its restructuring, the argument still does not address the difficulties in which I have already pointed out. Farther Coplestone goes to defend the argument with the idea that if there were an infinite series of causes, this would still not do away with the need for a first cause. Every object has a phenomenal cause, if you insist on the infinity of the series.
But the series of phenomenal causes is an insufficient explanation of the series. Therefore, the series has not a phenomenal cause, but a transcendent cause. An infinite series of contingent being will be, to my way of thinking as unable to cause as one contingent being (2) Bertrand Russell retorts that the demand to find the first cause of a series rests on the false assumption that the series is something over and above the members of which it is composed. This is an easy thing to do, taken that the word series is a noun and can easily be taken as an individual object. Yet it is absurd to ask for the cause of the series as a whole, and then proceed to ask the causes of the individual members. It is here in the causal argument do you see a blurring of the next type of Cosmological argument.
Defenders insist that when they ask for an explanation of a series, they are really saying that a series is not explained if it consists of nothing but contingent members. What we call the world is in intrinsically unintelligible apart from the existence of God. The infinity of the series of events, if such an infinity could be proved, would not be in the slightest degree relevant to the situation. If you add up chocolates, you get chocolates after al, and not a sheep. If you add up chocolates to infinity, you presumably get an infinite number of chocolates. So, if you add up contingent beings to infinity, you still get contingent beings, not a necessary being (3) This last quote by Father Copleston is nothing more than the summary for the cont...
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Research essay sample on Contingent Beings Infinite Series
