skakos » January 10th, 2015, 11:56 pm wrote:Does that mean that a First Cause COULD exist as well?
And what could that be?
I do not get the "something we know exists" argument.
If we are searching for it, how can we know it already?
Obviously we don't know, but what would the implications of positing a first cause?
Doesn't it mean something that has been around forever at some point triggered the causal chain that led to the universe as we know it appearing?
We don't know what preceded the big bang, but if we assume that time didn't start with the big bang, it seems reasonable to also assume that the stuff of the universe didn't come ex-nihilo (I don't mean empty spacetime, but literally nothing at all). Given those assumptions, I think it's also reasonable to suggest that there was some pre-existing stuff that changed state to give rise to the big bang. If you want to posit a first cause, then that stuff changing state was it. Personally, the idea of an infinite length of time with a single state change event seems illogical, so I'd suggest that in this model the stuff perpetually oscillates between states, and we're looking back to the start of one of those state changes. In this case, the first cause becomes meaningless, as there is no preferred beginning.
On the other hand, if we assume that time itself started at the big bang, there is no prior causal event because there is no prior time. In this model, the universe gives the appearance of having started at the big bang only because of our perspective; the universe as we see it just exists, and time is only relevant from the perspective of its occupants, so there is no meaningful first cause.
The same kind of arguments, on a grander scale, can be made about the various forms of multiverse that have been proposed.
So, the way I see it, questions about a first cause are meaningless. My most charitable view would be that they are, at best, premature. As far as I know, we simply don't have enough knowledge to do more than speculate about the ontology of the universe, let alone the dubious metaphysics of a first cause.