The universe is contingent

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

No references have been entered yet.

Justifications

No arguments have been entered yet.

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.
• On the contrary, a necessary being can only give rise to a contingent universe.

Parent debate

• Does God exist?