The universe is contingent

This argument is used in the debate Does God exist?.

This argument is an objection to God is the first cause of the universe.

Keywords: Cosmological argument, First cause, God, Contingency

Summary

Sartre's reasoning: if the universe finds its raison d'être in a necessary being, then it must be necessary. But the universe is contingent. So God, a necessary being, did not create the universe.

Quotes

“It is necessary that there be something and not nothing, because it is necessarily contingent that there be something and not something else. The necessity of the contingency of being imposes the necessary existence of contingent being.”

Quentin Meillassoux, After finitude, p.103, Le Seuil, Paris, 2006.

References

Justifications

Objections

If the universe has no cause, then it is not necessary for it to exist.
The need for something to exist presupposes the existence of God
The reasoning that a necessary being can only give rise to a necessary universe confuses logical implication with causal link.
A necessary being can only give rise to a contingent universe

Parent debate