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--- thinkers:peter_kreeft [2024/10/25 12:09] – slumduke
+++ thinkers:peter_kreeft [2024/10/25 12:36] (current) – slumduke
@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 This argument seems to be a variation of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Ways_(Aquinas)|The First Way]]. It goes something like:
-<flow>
+<mermaid>
-graph TD;
+%%{init: {'theme':'forest'}}%%
-    A-->B;
+flowchart LR
-    A-->C;
+    A(All changing things require an external, unchanging cause.)--> B
-    B-->D;
+    B(The universe is a changing thing.)--> C
-    C-->D;
+    C(Therefore, the universe requires an external, unchanging cause. This cause is God.)
-</flow>
+</mermaid>
+In the argument, Kreeft states, "Briefly, if there is nothing outside the material universe, then there is nothing that can cause the universe to change." I'm not convinced this is true.
+However, the more fundamental issue with the argument seems to be that it defines the first cause as God. If the first cause does not have a mind (consciousness), it is not God. If we treat the first cause as a variable, we can take every property of God except consciousness, assign it to the first cause variable, and still have a logically coherent first cause.
+===== The Argument from Efficient Causality =====
+===== The Argument from Time and Contingency =====
+===== The Argument from Degrees of Perfection =====
+===== The Design Argument =====
+===== The Kalam Argument =====
+===== The Argument from Contingency =====
+===== The Argument from the World as an Interacting Whole =====
+===== The Argument from Miracles =====
+===== The Argument from Consciousness =====
+===== The Argument from Truth =====
+===== The Argument from the Origin of the Idea of God =====
+===== The Ontological Argument =====
+===== The Moral Argument =====
+===== The Argument from Conscience =====
+===== The Argument from Desire =====
+===== The Argument from Aesthetic Experience =====
+===== The Argument from Religious Experience =====
+===== The Common Consent Argument =====
+===== Pascal's Wager =====