Saturday, February 24, 2024

Multiple Uncaused Causes

An uncaused cause must exist by logical necessity as long as there are things that came into existence [1], for this would require an act of creation, and even if the universe contains a vast set of causal relationships, things like self-creation, the past-eternal existence of time or matter, and coming into being uncaused are logically impossible.  Self-creation would necessitate that something existed before it existed, which is a contradiction.  With past-eternal matter and time, the present moment and whatever material events are occurring are never reached, also making this a logical impossibility.  Moreover, something cannot come into existence without being brought into being by something else.  Specific existents like the laws of logic and empty metaphysical space (devoid of matter) can have never had beginnings, but not time or the cosmos.

It follows by necessity that time and the universe would have to be created things.  One can know with absolute certainty that the present moment exists because one must reflect right now, and thus time cannot be an illusion.  As difficult as it is, one can even know that matter of some kind exists [2], though it is neither self-evident like the truth of logical axioms and the existence of one's own consciousness nor obvious from any sensory experiences.  The laws of logic exist in the absence of all other things, true by inherent necessity and thus superior to all else, even to God--and yet as immaterial, intrinsic truths, they are not a being that can create anything.  Thus, something had to precede time, the universe, and all other contingent things and start the great causal chain.  This entity is the uncaused cause, also called God.

Since there is only logical necessity to God's existence in light of the need for an uncaused cause of created things, God cos disappear from existence, as unlikely as it is.  God could have created other beings that themselves created the universe, serving as the start in a more extended sequence of creation that led to whatever universe now exists.  Still, there is an uncaused cause, whether or not it is the God of Christianity as much evidence suggests.  This is knowable.  It is absolutely certain because it is logically necessary.  It can be believed on faith, as fools would succumb to, but it is true and knowable.  What is unknowable for humans is the details such as whether there are multiple uncaused causes.

There cannot not be at least one uncaused cause.  However, there could be two or any other number of uncaused caused that have all always existed without beginning and that co-created the first things to begin to exist (the small handful of immaterial things existing already would by necessity have no beginning).  There could be 6, 17, 51, 72, 300, or any other number of uncaused causes, but only a single deity is logically necessary.  A greater number is logically possible but both unverifiable one way or another and absolutely not required metaphysically.  Along with the laws of logic and empty space, God is the only other uncaused thing to exist by necessity, though of course only logical truths exist by necessity in themselves, for God and matterless space have to be logically possible and necessary in order to exist at all.

Contrary to what so many Christians pretend to know from the Bible, Jesus might not actually be an uncaused cause along with Yahweh, as his creation of the universe along with the Father (John 1) does not require that he was not created before the physical world he helped bring into being.  If this is not the case and both Jesus and Yahweh--separate beings regardless because conventional Trinitarianism is obviously logically impossible--then there were at least two uncaused causes even on the Christian worldview, though the Bible does not actually clarify this issue.  The references to Jesus as the son and begotten son of the Father imply that he is indeed a created being, but there is no explicit affirmation for either possibility.  This would not be polytheism like that of many forms of paganism.  It would be two divine beings in harmony with each other rather than deities with dominion over different parts of nature or with conflicting priorities.



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