Thoughts from
San Diego on Law, Politics, and Culture

 
More Infinity
By Tom Smith

As I explained below, I am (very) slowly reading through this book on Cosmology and Theology. As I mentioned, Lane's argument for the creation of the universe depends on the impossibility of the existence of an "actual infinite." If infinite past time is an actual infinite, then it's impossible, so the universe must have started at some point, which gets you closer, at least, to a creator.

But is infinite past time an actual infinite? An actual infinite would be something like a hotel with an infinite number of rooms, or a universe with an infinite number of particles in it. But how is an infinite past a set with an infinite number of things in it? As Lane notes, both Aristotle and Aquinas thought an infinite past would not be an actual infinite. Lane refers to the work of Von Snickleberry (or some other obscure name) of an Aquinas scholar I have never heard of, saying that this very prominent contemporary scholar thinks Aristotle and Aquinas are wrong on this point. Well, excuse me, but if Aristotle and Aquinas think not-p, I'm not sure I'm impressed that Von Stinkybann or whatever his name is thinks they're wrong. Only Stanley Fish would be impressed by that sort of argument from authority. It seems more plausible to think, as Aquinas did, that you have a present moment, then another one. But you do not get a sort of accumulation of moments as time passes. Is the idea that they are somehow stored somewhere? It seems more plausible to suggest one present moment kind of replaces another, so that only the present actually exists at any given time. In any event, the argument is that an infinite number of things actually existing creates logical paradoxes. I would think you could just as plausibly say, moments of time must not accumulate, because then if you had an infinite past, you would have an actual infinite, which is impossible. So time must just sort of pass, rather than accumulate. Heck, for all we know, maybe that's one of the reasons time does pass, rather than build up over time (little joke, there). So, I'm a little disappointed. It looks like this argument for the existence of God is flawed, for reasons I will probably discovered are well recognized in the second half of the book. As I was contemplating these things, somebody jostled my shoulder. It was my wife. "You're snoring," she said.
posted by thomas at 11/20/2003 01:59:00 PM