Q&A: The Cosmological Argument, the Eternity of the World, and the Timeline
The Cosmological Argument, the Eternity of the World, and the Timeline
Question
Hi Michi.
I have two questions.
1) I understood that you basically believe the world has a cause because it began, and we know this from the Big Bang. I wanted to ask what you think about the argument of Jupiter and Saturn. The argument goes like this: for every orbit Saturn makes around the sun, Jupiter makes two orbits. So when Saturn makes 20 orbits, Jupiter makes 40. But if the world were eternal, then Saturn would have made infinitely many orbits and Jupiter also infinitely many orbits. But we already said that Jupiter makes double the number of orbits, so infinity cannot exist; rather, the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn must have had a beginning. (The argument itself is not really meant to prove reality, but more as an example / thought experiment to illustrate the absurdity of infinity. Other examples could also be given.)
2) Can we even say that the universe had a cause if the “axis” of time had a beginning, so there was no “before” the universe was created, and then it was created, since there was no such thing as “before” at all because there was no time?
Hope I’m being clear enough. In any case, thank you very much 🙂
Answer
Why do you need Jupiter and Saturn? This argument only shows a lack of mathematical understanding. You can’t speak about minus infinity except in a potential sense. Therefore, you also can’t claim that if the world were eternal, it would be impossible to arrive at our own day because an infinite amount of time would have had to pass. I answered this here not long ago.
Discussion on Answer
There are two possibilities: either it was created or it wasn’t. But why is that connected to our discussion here?
So basically, until the discovery of the Big Bang there was no way to infer that the world has a cause, and the most rational possibility is that the world is eternal?