PHIL 347 Exam with verified answers
What is the basic structure of the cosmological (kalam, craig, plato-philoponus) argument - **
VERIFIED ANSWERS **✔✔1. Everything that begins to exist has a cause
2. the universe began to exist
therefore the universe has a cause
what is the first a priori argument regarding premise 2 of the Kalam - ** VERIFIED ANSWERS
**✔✔The universe has to have a cause as it cannot be infinite because that implies there there is an
actual infinity of real events
Why can there not be actual infinites of real events? - ** VERIFIED ANSWERS **✔✔Because that
would lead us to deny Euclid's axiom that the whole is always larger than its parts
what is the second a priori argument regarding premise 2 of the Kalam - ** VERIFIED ANSWERS
**✔✔Even if we allow for infinities of real events, the universe cannot be eternal or infinite, as that
would mean that it would've had to have traversed all through a past infinity of events, which is a set
of infinite steps
What are a posteriori arguments for premise 2 of the Kalam - ** VERIFIED ANSWERS **✔✔Big
bang cosmology, big bang singularity, empirically observed background radiation, thermodynamics -
if universe is eternal then we would have run out of energy
Russells objections to second premise of the Kalam - ** VERIFIED ANSWERS **✔✔Set theory has
shown that there can be actual infinities of real objects, therefore this undermines a priori argument
that the universe needs a start date. This is based on the assumption that numbers are real objects
and that consistency implies possibility
Arguments regarding premise 1 of the kalam - Hume's objection the the causal principle - **
VERIFIED ANSWERS **✔✔Hume rejects intuitive knowledge, and believes everything has to be
proven with experience. Just because some things have a cause does not mean that all things do
What is the basic structure of the cosmological (kalam, craig, plato-philoponus) argument - **
VERIFIED ANSWERS **✔✔1. Everything that begins to exist has a cause
2. the universe began to exist
therefore the universe has a cause
what is the first a priori argument regarding premise 2 of the Kalam - ** VERIFIED ANSWERS
**✔✔The universe has to have a cause as it cannot be infinite because that implies there there is an
actual infinity of real events
Why can there not be actual infinites of real events? - ** VERIFIED ANSWERS **✔✔Because that
would lead us to deny Euclid's axiom that the whole is always larger than its parts
what is the second a priori argument regarding premise 2 of the Kalam - ** VERIFIED ANSWERS
**✔✔Even if we allow for infinities of real events, the universe cannot be eternal or infinite, as that
would mean that it would've had to have traversed all through a past infinity of events, which is a set
of infinite steps
What are a posteriori arguments for premise 2 of the Kalam - ** VERIFIED ANSWERS **✔✔Big
bang cosmology, big bang singularity, empirically observed background radiation, thermodynamics -
if universe is eternal then we would have run out of energy
Russells objections to second premise of the Kalam - ** VERIFIED ANSWERS **✔✔Set theory has
shown that there can be actual infinities of real objects, therefore this undermines a priori argument
that the universe needs a start date. This is based on the assumption that numbers are real objects
and that consistency implies possibility
Arguments regarding premise 1 of the kalam - Hume's objection the the causal principle - **
VERIFIED ANSWERS **✔✔Hume rejects intuitive knowledge, and believes everything has to be
proven with experience. Just because some things have a cause does not mean that all things do
