tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433428682510068517.post1340233542956625970..comments2024-02-29T19:21:32.831-05:00Comments on Possible Worlds: The Kalam, the Multiverse, and the Causal PrincipleRandy Everisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06870605678781409126noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433428682510068517.post-26653916280694035082013-05-03T19:52:08.574-04:002013-05-03T19:52:08.574-04:00Well since the new format was introduced reporting...Well since the new format was introduced reporting trollish behavior is much easier. There's also a rep system now so it's easier to tell whether you should take someone seriously (though there are exceptions do the anonymous element). <br /><br />Do check it out though! I'd like to see how your idea in this post would be received :DAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433428682510068517.post-77658484907963102252013-05-03T19:27:33.559-04:002013-05-03T19:27:33.559-04:00You're welcome! Funny you mention RF; I was ju...You're welcome! Funny you mention RF; I was just thinking of trying to go back. How is it? Are there a lot of trolls these days? That was part of the reason I left.Randy Everisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06870605678781409126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433428682510068517.post-61812210575695030452013-05-03T19:26:22.392-04:002013-05-03T19:26:22.392-04:00Gotcha! This was actually one of those arguments I...Gotcha! This was actually one of those arguments I hadn't really understood before so I thank thee very much, sir. <br /><br />RF misses you, FrankAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433428682510068517.post-44404587550143582152013-05-03T19:11:48.115-04:002013-05-03T19:11:48.115-04:00Well, I wouldn't say that there would be thing...Well, I wouldn't say that there would be things popping into existence uncasued; rather, I would say it's a mystery why it doesn't seem to happen! So in that vein, I would not say it is our experience. We need not answer the question, or even have a method for asking it, in order for it to be valid. Now, we do take it as evidently true that tigers popping into existence in our living room, or just anything of that sort, does not happen. Even Hume takes this as *evidently* true. But it is not on this basis that we ask the question. The question presupposes that it doesn't happen, true, but it is compatible with being unsure: it simply asks what would prevent such a state of affairs from occurring? But then all of the same problems attend (even if Hume is right that we cannot use induction to confirm anything [or the Humean, as it were], it surely doesn't answer the question, nor does it make it an invalid one). And that's all we need to proceed with a defense of the argument. :)Randy Everisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06870605678781409126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433428682510068517.post-64007569035792495062013-05-03T19:03:32.824-04:002013-05-03T19:03:32.824-04:00I think I see it now (and had actually thought of ...I think I see it now (and had actually thought of the question posed in the absence of experience before posting). <br /><br />If we say there's nothing that restricts things popping into being uncaused, then there would be things popping into being uncaused. <br /><br />But while we can pose the question apart from experience, isn't our experience the reason we would deny this?<br /><br />Frank <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433428682510068517.post-6572527480444766712013-05-03T17:49:02.806-04:002013-05-03T17:49:02.806-04:00Hi Frank, I always appreciate it! :)
Just to be e...Hi Frank, I always appreciate it! :)<br /><br />Just to be explicit, technically the causal principle at work here is not "every effect has a cause," but "whatever begins to exist had a cause;" some view this as distinct. But no matter, for even if it is, we can just amend your question accordingly.<br /><br />To answer your question directly, the aforementioned argument of "if the causal principle is false, it’s unclear what prevents things from popping into being uncaused" works, and Hume's contention would not circumvent that. For even if it were the case that our induction did not confirm this (and instead, we simply had no idea one way or the other with respect to induction), notice the question still remains: what reason is there that prevents this? Lack of induction wouldn't subvert it; only if our induction was disconfirmatory (in a conclusive sense) ought we to modify our causal principle.<br /><br />Moreover, skepticism on this level would destroy the scientific enterprise. Here's a clearer way of putting it: imagine a man strolling up to the White House in Washington, D.C. He takes it all in, and proclaims, "it only <i>appears</i> as though the house has been built. The work crews and materials were here at the same time, and certainly appeared to build the house, but it's possible the house's being built was rather spontaneous, and not at all owing to the apparent cause." That man would be a candidate for the looney bin!<br /><br />What Hume would need to do is give us some reason that induction is not confirmatory; I suspect what Hume did was actually in response to the argument that induction <i>proves</i> or demonstrates the causal principle (in fairness to Hume), and he was responding that one hasn't quite risen to the level of logical proof.Randy Everisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06870605678781409126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433428682510068517.post-87377730823977825162013-05-03T17:14:05.634-04:002013-05-03T17:14:05.634-04:00Top o' the afternoon to you Randy,
If I coul...Top o' the afternoon to you Randy, <br /><br />If I could play devil's advocate for a moment, what reason, apart from inductive confirmation, do we have to believe that effects require causes? <br /><br />Who's to say what we observe aren't actually uncaused events with the appearance of causation (Hume's "constant conjunction")? <br /><br />Would this render the question “if the causal principle is false, it’s unclear what prevents things from popping into being uncaused" moot?<br /><br />Frank <br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com