Q&A: Philosophy — The Cosmological Argument as a Contradiction to the Kabbalistic Emanation Theory (Neo-Platonic)
Philosophy — The Cosmological Argument as a Contradiction to the Kabbalistic Emanation Theory (Neo-Platonic)
Question
Have a good week, Rabbi.
I’m going back again (more carefully) over your book The First Being.
I got again to the chapter dealing with the cosmological argument, where you discuss several times revising the argument and sharpening it. A certain thought occurred to me, based on the parable of “turtles all the way down”: if there is no need for a chain of causes preceding God (since the claim “who created / preceded God” is just an attempt to dodge the issue), then all the “Kabbalistic entities” (the worlds of Adam Kadmon, Atzilut, Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah) are unnecessary, since there is no need for them. What do you think of that claim?
Answer
The Kabbalistic entities were not introduced in order to solve the problem of regress.