Document Type

Thesis

Degree

Master of Arts

Major

Philosophy

Date of Defense

4-22-2013

Graduate Advisor

Jon McGinnis

Committee

Berit Brogaard

Andrew Black

Abstract

William Lane Craig is the most recognizable contemporary defender of the kalam cosmological argument. The argument, in its simplest form, is that (i) Whatever begins to exist has a cause of its existence, (ii) The universe began to exist, and (iii) Therefore, the universe has a cause of its existence. In defending this argument, he claims that it presupposes the theory of time commonly referred to as the A-theory of time, which is roughly the view that time really does flow from the nonexistent future into the present, and then out of existence into the past. Though this may be the commonsense view of time, it is not the view held by many philosophers and physicists. Because Craig’s argument relies on a controversial view of time, the argument in my view carries an unnecessary burden of proof on behalf of the A-theory. My thesis, then, is to argue in support of the kalam cosmological argument, but also to argue against Craig’s claim that it must be dependent on the A-theory of time, the result of which will be a more general yet stronger version of the kalam cosmological argument for the existence of God.

OCLC Number

846504426

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