What is Necessary Condition?
- Must be present for an outcome to occur.
- Without it, the outcome is impossible.
Example: Oxygen is necessary for human survival.
A is necessary for B if B → A (B implies A).
What is a sufficient condition?
Guarantees the outcome if true.
Example: Getting 100% is sufficient to pass the class but not necessary.
A is sufficient for B if A → B (A implies B).
Differentiate between necessary and sufficent cause.
- Sufficient Cause: If A happens, B will definitely happen.
- Example: Decapitation is a sufficient cause of death.
- Necessary Cause: Without A, B cannot happen.
- Example: The presence of oxygen is necessary for fire.
Differentiate between necessary and coningent existence.
- Necessary Existence: Something that must exist in all possible worlds (cannot fail to exist).
- Contingent Existence: Something that might exist in some possible worlds but not in others (its existence depends on other factors).
- Example: You and I are contingent beings — we exist, but we might not have existed.
What is the principle of sufficent reason?
Definition): Every fact or being must have an explanation or reason.
Weak PSR: Only contingent facts need explanation.
Strong PSR: All facts must have explanation (no brute facts allowed).
What is the cosmological argument?
The Cosmological Argument tries to show that the existence of the universe (or contingent beings) points to the existence of a necessary being (often identified as God).
What is the deductive argument?
Deductive Argument from Contingent Facts
- Core idea: The existence of contingent beings requires an explanation.
- Principle used: A weak Principle of Sufficient Reason (PSR) — every contingent fact has an explanation.
What are the premises or arguments for deductive argument from contingent facts?
- Contingent beings exist.
- All contingent beings have a sufficient cause of or a fully adequate explanation for their existence.
- A chain of contingent explanations cannot be ultimate.
- Therefore, a necessary being must exist to explain them.
What is a criticism for the deductive argument from contingent facts?
The issue with this is in the cosmological argument ( the cosmological argument is supposed to be an a posteriori argument or empirical argument), but here one of the premises relies on the principle of sufficient reason, which is not empirical.
What is modal realism?
The modal realism version says that if all possible worlds exist, then the whole multiverse needs a complete explanation.
Using a strong Principle of Sufficient Reason, it claims that everything must be necessary, not contingent. This leads to the idea that God is the necessary being.
What are the premises and conclusion for modal realsim?
- Possible worlds necessarily co-exist. (main idea of modal realism or the thesis)
- The multiverse exists as the collection of all possible worlds.
- Everything that exists has an absolute explanation for its existence. (assumes the principle of sufficient reason)
Inference 1, P4: thus, there is an absolute explanation for the multiverse.
- An absolute explanation is possible only if there are no contingent facts.
- the PSR is true only if all facts are necessary.
- Stronger version of the PSR - Thus, there are no contingent facts.
- This explanation can be found in the fact that God necessarily exists.
What is the criticism for modal realism?
This is a weak argument. Conclusion 6 is a really strong claim that all there is are necessary facts.
What are the premises of kaalam argument?
- Everything that begins to exist has a cause for its existence.
- The universe began to exist.
- Therefore, the universe was caused (often identified with God).(by P1 AND P2)
- No scientific explanation can provide a causal account of the origin of the universe, because such explanations are, in a certain sense, a part of the universe.
- Thus, the cause must be from a divine being.
What is the kalam argument?
- Core idea: Everything that beings to exist has a cause for its existence. (i.e, everything is causal)
- Principle used: Causal principle (everything that begins to exist has a cause).
