William Lane Craig, as we all know, is an apologist with a predilection for the Kalam Cosmological Argument, which goes like this:1) Everything that has a beginning of its existence has a cause of its existence;
2) The universe has a beginning of its existence;
C) Therefore: The universe has a cause of its existence.
The point I want to make today is about quantum indeterminacy. This is the notion that, at the quantum, microscopic level, things could be indeterminate, or ‘uncaused’. This potentially invalidates the first premise.
Craig, then, aside from free will, is (needs to be) a determinist. So we share something in common, there. However, the prevailing interpretation of Quantum Mechanics (QM) was the Copenhagen Interpretation. Nowadays, it must be said, the consensus has moved back toward a more deterministic understanding of QM – The Many Worlds Interpretation.
That being said, the surety of his argument is in at least some good doubt here. In order to be a libertarian free willer, as Craig is, on the other hand, one has to believe that the agent is the originator of the causal chain. That means that the reasons for the agent committing an action cannot be regressed further back – the buck stops with the agent. The determinist, alternatively, thinks that the Big Bang and the resulting causal circumstance is the reason for any given action (to simplify things greatly).
The point being that Craig, as well as having to get over the problem of QI in order to arrive at determinism to allow for the causality to work in his first premise, must also ALLOW for indeterminism in his causal chains to allow for free will!
As far as critiques go for the Kalam, there is a new kid on the block who has produced some really very good introductions to dismantling the argument. Known as Counter Apologist, he has a nascent blog here which looks like it could be fascinating. Check out the excellent short videos which go with his posts, all posted here (his second one talks about stuff relevant to this post):
So I really endorse checking Counter Apologist out and certainly wish him all the best in his venture into You Tube channels and blogs. Perhaps we could do something to tackle the Kalam with a two-pronged attack! My 20,000 word paper on the KCA has bee written and is going through editing. The hope is, on fleshing it out, I will turn it into a book.
As ever, comments below.
