Posted by alexandra_k on April 7, 2005, at 1:54:56
In reply to Re: I smile (very short), posted by sunny10 on April 6, 2005, at 13:48:52
:-)
It is remarkable.
That there is something rather than nothing.
That the universe, the cosmos exists when it could have been otherwise.
That somehow or other we are located on this world.Hmm.
I have been trying to teach peoples about necessary and contingent beings today.To get that you need a bit of a story...
We often say things could have been otherwise from what they are:
It is possible that I never came to Babble.
It is possible that I never even existed.
Another way of saying those is:
There is a possible world in which I never came to Babble.
There is a possible world in which I do not exist.
There are indefinately many different possible worlds. Different ways this world might have been or might be.
A necessary being is a being that exists in all possible worlds.
A contingent being is a being that exists in some possible worlds but not in others.The whole universe, the whole cosmos is contingent.
It could just as easily have not existed.
Necessary beings include god (perhaps)
And numbers (perhaps).See, it is possible that god exists.
And that entails that there is a possible world in which god exists.
And god (if he exists) is a necessary being.
So if god exists in at least one possible world
(which is entailed by it being possible that god exist)
Then god exists necessarily.
And for god to exist necessarily means that god exists in all possible worlds.
And the actual world (this world) is one possible world
Therefore god exists in the actual world
Necessarily
:-)Hmm.
Perhaps ;-)
poster:alexandra_k
thread:480721
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/write/20050321/msgs/481007.html