The Cosmological Argument: A Reassessment PDF
Preview The Cosmological Argument: A Reassessment
THE COSMOLOOICAL ARGUMENT A Reassessment 6 THE COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT A Reassessment By BRUCE R. REICHENBACH, Ph.D. Chairman, Department of Philosophy Augsburg College Minneapolis, Minnesota CHARLES C THOMAS • PUBLISHER Springfield • Illinois • U.S.A. Published and Distributed Throughout the World by CHARLES G THOMAS • PUBLISHER BANNERSTONE HOUSE 301-327 East Lawrence Avenue, Springfield, Illinois, U.S.A. NATCHEZ PLANTATION HOUSE 735 North Atlantic Boulevard, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S.A. This book is protected by copyright. No part of it may be reproduced in any manner without written permission from the publisher. © 1972 by CHARLES C THOMAS • PUBLISHER Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 74-165894 With THOMAS BOOKS careful attention is given to all details of manufacturing and design. It is the Publisher's desire to present books that are satisfactory as to their physical qualities and artistic possibilities and appropriate for their particular use. THOMAS BOOKS will be true to those laws of quality that assure a good name and good will. Printed in the United States of America 1-10 To Sharon A good wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, And he will have no lack of gain. She does him good, and not harm, All the days of her life. —Proverbs 31 / w PREFACE ITHIN THE PAST decade or so there has been a gradual awak ening of interest in philosophical theology in general and in the theistic arguments in particular. One of the first indications of this was the response which the publication of Flew and Maclntyre's collection, New Essays in Philosophical Theology, evoked. A major result of this volume was to bring to the at tention of the philosophical world questions which had long been passed off as meaningless. It pointed to the fact that we can once again critically and cautiously investigate an area of philosophy which for half a century or more was deemed barren. It is true that the majority of articles contained therein were largely negative in the judgment which they passed on a variety of issues, including the truth and validity of the theistic argu ments. And considering the philosophical background out of which this volume came, this is not surprising. But the lasting value and importance of this volume are not so much the con clusions arrived at, but rather the indication of a new direction in philosophical theology which it manifests; the endeavor to do philosophical theology is again made respectable. In the developments which have succeeded the publication of this volume, it was the ontological argument which initially stimulated the greatest interest and debate. The criticisms which Kant raised had long been accepted by the overwhelming ma jority of philosophers as ultimately telling against Anselm's argu ment. But Norman Malcolm's reformulation (or discovery of a second argument in Anselm) ignited a flurry of response, a reaction which continues to the present. Interest was again sparked in one of the oldest theses of natural theology. More recently, interest has also been generated in the cosmological argument. Has the argument been properly understood? Are the traditional criticisms really damaging to the argument? Can the argument be reformulated in order to overcome certain weaknesses which have been discerned? These are some of the vii viii The Cosmological Argument questions which have been raised in recent books and philosophi cal journals. Here again, what is important, to me at least, is not so much the conclusions which these writers come to (though they in no wise can be passed over lightly), as their willingness to take another hard look at the cosmological argument, some thing which would have been generally considered unthinkable not so long ago. Theirs is an unmistakable signal that it is time to think through the multifarious and difficult issues which sur round the cosmological argument. It is this challenge to analyze the positions which the cos mological argument propounds and presupposes which we have undertaken to meet. The time has arrived for a reassessment of both the truth and validity of what is to me the most inter esting and exciting of the theistic arguments. Such a reassessment, such an investigation, is precisely the task of this book. It will be the reevaluation of both the argument itself and the criticisms which have been raised against it, both historically and in con temporary philosophy, which will occupy our attention through out. Our program will be to establish in the beginning, what initially appears to be a plausible cosmological argument, while leaving to succeeding chapters the task of defending this against its critics. In the first chapter we will endeavor to set forth argu ments which fully support the various steps to be found in our cosmological argument. Accordingly, the complete development of what we believe to be a true and valid cosmological argument will be given here. Out of this presentation will arise the fact of the argument's basic reliance on the principles of causation and sufficient reason. The second, third, and fourth chapters will be devoted to a detailed defense of the truth and necessity of both principles. The final chapters will consider the various criticisms which have been or are now raised against the argu ment. We will devote our attention to dealing with each in de tail. Consequently, if we can establish a plausible cosmological argument, and if we can defend this initial argument against the criticisms which usually have been thought to invalidate it, then we have given new life to an argument which traditionally has had an important place in philosophical theology. Preface IX The era is past when all metaphysical statements or argu ments can simply be dismissed as silly or senseless, since they do not meet a preestablished criterion of verifiability. Meta physical utterances can be meaningful when placed in an ap propriate context. In this, hopefully, we have shown the way. We have presented a context in which we can begin to dis course; we are pointing to a being whose very existence provides the core of such a context.
The list of books you might like
