Kalam cosmological argument[edit]
Craig is best known for his use of a version of the
cosmological argument, which he coined the "
Kalam cosmological argument" in recognition of its
medievalIslamic history.
In
The Kalām Cosmological Argument, he formulates the argument in the following manner:
- Everything that begins to exist has a cause of its existence.
- The universe began to exist.
- Therefore, the universe has a cause of its existence.[24]
Philosophically, Craig uses two traditional arguments to show that
time is finite: he argues that the existence of an
actual infinite is
metaphysically impossible, and that forming an actual infinite through successive addition is metaphysically impossible.
[25]
Granting the strict logical consistency of
post-Cantorian,
axiomatized infinite set theory, Craig says that the existence of an actually infinite number of things is metaphysically impossible due to the counter-intuitive absurdities that would arise.
[26] Craig uses an example of
Hilbert's Hotel, which can be fully occupied and yet, through the
transposition of lodgers, accommodate an infinite number of guests. Craig argues that by envisioning different groups of guests checking out of the hotel, one could subtract identical quantities from identical quantities and have non-identical quantities as remainders, which is absurd.
[27]Stating that the mathematical conventions stipulated to ensure the logical consistency of
transfinite arithmetic have no
ontological force, Craig believes that finitism is most plausibly true, and the series of past events must be finite, which he argues indicates the
universe began to exist.
[28]
Craig says that just as it is impossible, despite the proponents of "
super-tasks," to count to infinity, so it is metaphysically impossible to count down from infinity.
[29] Craig says that an inversion of the story of
Tristram Shandy is a counter-intuitive absurdity that could result from the formation of an actual infinite. Craig claims that if the universe were eternal, an infinite number of events would have occurred before the present moment, which he says is impossible.
[30]
One of Craig's contributions to the kalam cosmological argument is his reference to
astrophysics in support of the universe's beginning, namely the
expansion of the universe and
thermodynamics.
[31]
Craig says that the
Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker metric Big Bang model predicts a
cosmic singularity, which marks the origin of the universe in the finite past.
[32] Craig says that competing models which do not imply an origin of the universe have either proved to be untenable (such as the
steady state model and
vacuum fluctuation models) or implied the beginning of the universe they were designed to avoid (
oscillating models,
inflationary models,
quantum gravity models). Craig says that the Borde-
Guth-
Vilenkin theorem of 2003 requires that any universe which has on average been in a state of
cosmic expansion cannot be
eternal.
[33]
Craig believes that recent discoveries about the expansion of the universe and
relativity theory support his view that thermodynamic properties of the universe show it is not eternal.
[34][35] Craig says that postulating a
multiverse of worlds in varying thermodynamic states encounter the problem of
Boltzmann brains—that it becomes highly probable for any observer that the universe is only an illusion of his own brain, a
solipsistic conclusion Craig says no
rationalperson would embrace.
[36]
Based on these arguments, Craig concludes that the premise that the universe began to exist is more
plausible than not, and conjoined with premise 1, the beginning of the universe implies the existence of a cause. Craig claims that, due to its nature, the cause must be an uncaused, beginningless, changeless, timeless, spaceless,
immaterial being of enormous power, which he refers to as
God.
[37]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Lane_Craig
Due to the nature of the thing I've never seen before, and have no way of knowing about it's nature, I safely conclude it is uncaused, beginningless, changeless, timeless, spaceless, and immaterial.