Grounding, infinite regress, and the thomistic cosmological argument

A prominent Thomistic cosmological argument maintains that an infinite regress of causes, which exhibits a certain pattern of ontological dependence among its members, would be vicious and so must terminate in a first member. Interestingly, Jonathan Schaffer offers a similar argument in the contempo...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Oberle, Thomas (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Springer Nature B. V 2022
In: International journal for philosophy of religion
Year: 2022, Volume: 92, Issue: 3, Pages: 147-166
Further subjects:B Fundamentality
B Grounding
B Metaphysical infinitism
B Thomistic cosmological argument
B Infinite Regress
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:A prominent Thomistic cosmological argument maintains that an infinite regress of causes, which exhibits a certain pattern of ontological dependence among its members, would be vicious and so must terminate in a first member. Interestingly, Jonathan Schaffer offers a similar argument in the contemporary grounding literature for the view called metaphysical foundationalism. I consider the striking similarities between both arguments and conclude that both are unsuccessful for the same reason. I argue this negative result gives us indirect reason to consider metaphysical infinitism as a genuine possibility, the view that chains of ontological dependence or ground can descend indefinitely.
ISSN:1572-8684
Contains:Enthalten in: International journal for philosophy of religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/s11153-022-09840-3