The Role of Essentially Ordered Causal Series in Avicenna’s Proof for the Necessary Existent in the Metaphysics of the Salvation
History of Philosophy Quarterly 36 (2):121-138 (2019)
Abstract
Avicenna's proof for the existence of God (the Necessary Existent) in the Metaphysics of the Salvation relies on the claim that every possible existent shares a common cause. I argue that Avicenna has good reason to hold this claim given that he thinks that (1) every essentially ordered causal series originates in a first, common cause and that (2) every possible existent belongs to an essentially ordered series. Showing Avicenna's commitment to 1 and 2 allows me to respond to Herbert Davidson's and Richard Swinburne's claim that Avicenna's proof for the Necessary Existent is incomplete and fallacious
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Archival date: 2020-06-24
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2019-07-09
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83 ( #42,129 of 57,165 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
31 ( #24,585 of 57,165 )
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