tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-936435279424511988.post635956762683727311..comments2023-07-14T07:52:44.959-07:00Comments on Rocket Philosophy: Review of Lander University's Criticism of the First WayMartinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06038086497147379685noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-936435279424511988.post-4598020420623917392012-10-09T19:12:42.498-07:002012-10-09T19:12:42.498-07:00The proper contrapositive of "Whatever is mov...The proper contrapositive of "Whatever is moved is moved by another" is equivalent to "Whatever is not moved by another is not moved," not "if there is something that is NOT moved, then it isn't moved by another." Or the inference might be thought about in terms of <i>modus tollens</i>.<br /><br />There's some room for debate about Aquinas on creation <i>ex nihilo</i>:<br /><br />(1) Aquinas is not entirely consistent on creation from nothing. He trades on an equivocation in the <i>Summa</i>: <br />"'From' has both senses when we say that something is made from nothing; the first expresses sequence, as we have noted, while the second expresses and denies relationship to a material cause." (Ia, 45, 2-3). In the next section, he only considers the former which is consistent with the "Review" above.<br /><br />(2)However, in <i>Summa Contra Gentiles</i> Book II, Aquinas specifically states, "God's action, which is without pre-existing matter and is called creation, is neither a motion nor a change, properly speaking." This is explained at some length in these sections:<br />16 "That God has brought things into being out of nothing."<br />17 "That Creation is not a Movement nor a Change."<br /><br />(3) It doesn't help much to say we space-time creatures trip over a timeless and space-less God.<br /><br />(4) Don't you think it might be more accurate to say the efforts of different groups to posses the lump of gold is the efficient cause of the war, rather than the lump, itself.<br /><br />(5) "Whoever said a process must have a beginning, middle, and end?"<br />That would be Aristotle where he speaks not just of poetics when he writes, "A whole is that which has a beginning, a middle, and an end. A beginning is that which does not itself follow anything by causal necessity, but after which something naturally is or comes to be. An end, on the contrary, is that which itself naturally follows some other thing, either by necessity, or as a rule, but has nothing following it. (<i>Poetics</i>, VI). <br /><br />In Aquinas' thought, it seems to me, he maintains the temporal beginning of the universe is hidden from human reason and can only be a matter of faith.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com