This is an agument for god's existence I heard recently.
It starts by proving something must be eternal:
What is eternal?
There are 4 possiblities (please bring up any others that you can think of)
All is material and only material things are eternal (Material Monism)
All is spirit and only spirit is eternal (Spiritual Monism)
Both matter and spirit are eternal (Dualism)
Something is eternal and everything else is temporal (Theism)
Here is the agrument against nothing being eternal
1) Nothing is eternal
2) All is temporal
3) All had a beginning
4) All came into being
5) All came into being from non-being
6) Being from non-being is impossible so something or everything must be eternal
The idea is that Theism can be found to be true through the elimination of the other 3.
Material Monism:
Agument 1
Major premise: if the material world were eternal it would be self-maintaining
Minor premise: the material world is not self-maintaining
Conclusion : the material world is not eternal
Major premise-
1) that there must be something eternal and what is eternal is not dependent on anything for its continuing existence. If all is matter then matter must be eternal.
2) that if something is self-maintaining it will continue without any change or if it changes it is a matter of recycling.
Minor premise (a problem of entropy)-
1) the physical universe is highly differentiated in terms of hot and cold
2) these differences interact
3) the interaction continues until sameness is reached
4) sameness remains sameness; it cannot return to differentiation.
6) if all is matter and only matter is eternal why have we not yet reach a point of sameness?
Agument 2 (we are still discussing the mind, the biggest question is whether it is physical or not)
Major premise: if all is matter then thinking must be motion of atoms in the brain
Minor premise: thinking is not motion of atoms in the brain
Conclusion: it is not the case that all is matter.
Major premise- self explainitory
Minor premise-
1) The motion of atoms can be described in terms of fast or slow, straight or curved, up or down etc.
2) None of these qualities or combination can be identified as true or false which is an essential quality of thought.
3) Therefore thinking is not motion of any kind.
Spiritual Monism
There are two forms of spiritual monism-
1) absolute non-dualism, one without parts called advaita vedanta.
2) qualified non-dualism, one with parts called dvaita vedanta.
Agument 1 against advaita vedanta
1) no experience is meaningful without interpretation
2) this experience (pure consciousness) has been interpreted in many ways (monist, dualist, Buddhist, theist etc.)
3) a valid interpretation is internally consistent
4) how could one mind have so many different interpretations?
Agument 2 agianst advaita vedanta
1) advaita vedanta believes all is One and therefore all is eternal, things must be either real/eternal or unreal/nonexistent; they cannot be temporal given this assumption. Also all material things are non-existent.
2) where does the illusion reside? It cannot be in either one mind or in the individual self
3) how can one mind be concealed given its nature as (infinite) pure consciousness ?
Agument against dvaita vedanta
There are 3 versions of dvaita vedanta
1) all parts are the same - finite
A) if all parts are finite then the whole (God) cannot be infinite. Further, beings cannot be finite (growing - going through unique events) and be eternal.
2) all parts are the same - infinite
if all parts are infinite each would be complete in itself and therefore not have or need parts to make it whole
3) all parts are not the same; some part(s)are infinite and some finite.
if some parts are infinite(and eternal) and some finite (and temporal) this would be creation rather than non-dualism.
Dualism:
Two forms of dualism:
1) Ordinary Dualism in which matter is eternal and independent of spirit.
A) You can use either of the arguments against MM or SM as if one of them isn't eternal ordinary dualism is false.
2) Dependent Dualism in which matter is eternal and dependent on spirit. The first argument against materialism holds against ordinary dualism.
A)In accounting for change and permanence Dependent Dualism analyses the world in terms of form and matter, potentiality and actuality. Matter without form is pure potentiality. The source of all change is the Unmoved Mover, pure actuality, spirit without matter. The dilemma is: if matter has some actuality without spirit then it is ordinary dualism but if matter has no actuality without spirit then matter would be created and temporal.
It starts by proving something must be eternal:
What is eternal?
There are 4 possiblities (please bring up any others that you can think of)
All is material and only material things are eternal (Material Monism)
All is spirit and only spirit is eternal (Spiritual Monism)
Both matter and spirit are eternal (Dualism)
Something is eternal and everything else is temporal (Theism)
Here is the agrument against nothing being eternal
1) Nothing is eternal
2) All is temporal
3) All had a beginning
4) All came into being
5) All came into being from non-being
6) Being from non-being is impossible so something or everything must be eternal
The idea is that Theism can be found to be true through the elimination of the other 3.
Material Monism:
Agument 1
Major premise: if the material world were eternal it would be self-maintaining
Minor premise: the material world is not self-maintaining
Conclusion : the material world is not eternal
Major premise-
1) that there must be something eternal and what is eternal is not dependent on anything for its continuing existence. If all is matter then matter must be eternal.
2) that if something is self-maintaining it will continue without any change or if it changes it is a matter of recycling.
Minor premise (a problem of entropy)-
1) the physical universe is highly differentiated in terms of hot and cold
2) these differences interact
3) the interaction continues until sameness is reached
4) sameness remains sameness; it cannot return to differentiation.
6) if all is matter and only matter is eternal why have we not yet reach a point of sameness?
Agument 2 (we are still discussing the mind, the biggest question is whether it is physical or not)
Major premise: if all is matter then thinking must be motion of atoms in the brain
Minor premise: thinking is not motion of atoms in the brain
Conclusion: it is not the case that all is matter.
Major premise- self explainitory
Minor premise-
1) The motion of atoms can be described in terms of fast or slow, straight or curved, up or down etc.
2) None of these qualities or combination can be identified as true or false which is an essential quality of thought.
3) Therefore thinking is not motion of any kind.
Spiritual Monism
There are two forms of spiritual monism-
1) absolute non-dualism, one without parts called advaita vedanta.
2) qualified non-dualism, one with parts called dvaita vedanta.
Agument 1 against advaita vedanta
1) no experience is meaningful without interpretation
2) this experience (pure consciousness) has been interpreted in many ways (monist, dualist, Buddhist, theist etc.)
3) a valid interpretation is internally consistent
4) how could one mind have so many different interpretations?
Agument 2 agianst advaita vedanta
1) advaita vedanta believes all is One and therefore all is eternal, things must be either real/eternal or unreal/nonexistent; they cannot be temporal given this assumption. Also all material things are non-existent.
2) where does the illusion reside? It cannot be in either one mind or in the individual self
3) how can one mind be concealed given its nature as (infinite) pure consciousness ?
Agument against dvaita vedanta
There are 3 versions of dvaita vedanta
1) all parts are the same - finite
A) if all parts are finite then the whole (God) cannot be infinite. Further, beings cannot be finite (growing - going through unique events) and be eternal.
2) all parts are the same - infinite
if all parts are infinite each would be complete in itself and therefore not have or need parts to make it whole
3) all parts are not the same; some part(s)are infinite and some finite.
if some parts are infinite(and eternal) and some finite (and temporal) this would be creation rather than non-dualism.
Dualism:
Two forms of dualism:
1) Ordinary Dualism in which matter is eternal and independent of spirit.
A) You can use either of the arguments against MM or SM as if one of them isn't eternal ordinary dualism is false.
2) Dependent Dualism in which matter is eternal and dependent on spirit. The first argument against materialism holds against ordinary dualism.
A)In accounting for change and permanence Dependent Dualism analyses the world in terms of form and matter, potentiality and actuality. Matter without form is pure potentiality. The source of all change is the Unmoved Mover, pure actuality, spirit without matter. The dilemma is: if matter has some actuality without spirit then it is ordinary dualism but if matter has no actuality without spirit then matter would be created and temporal.
