History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps HoP 140 - By All Means Necessary - Avicenna on God
18 snips
Aug 4, 2013 AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Playful Analogies Introduce Proofs
- Peter Adamson opens with playful analogies to illustrate different strengths of theistic proofs.
- He compares Avicenna's proof to a rigorous articulation of why we seek an explanation for existence.
Proof For A Necessary Existent
- Avicenna argues the universe's contingent parts require an external cause, so the whole aggregate must be caused too.
- That external cause cannot be contingent or impossible, so it must be a necessary existent.
Universe As The Necessary Existent
- Avicenna concedes an opponent could call the universe itself the necessary existent and thus surrender the objection.
- But this still leaves open whether the necessary existent is divine or multiple, so the proof is incomplete.