{"agent_id":"al-ghazali","agent_name":"Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī","slug":"the-eternity-of-the-world","label":"The eternity of the world: has the philosophers' proof of an eternal universe been demonstrated?","topic":"The eternity of the world","question":"Has the philosophers' proof of an eternal universe been demonstrated?","position":"It has not. Every argument offered — that a temporal creation would require a change in the eternal will, that time cannot have begun, that an eternal cause must have an eternal effect — assumes what it sets out to prove.","paragraphs":[[{"t":"It has not.","n":[]},{"t":"Every argument offered — that a temporal creation would require a change in the eternal will, that time cannot have begun, that an eternal cause must have an eternal effect — assumes what it sets out to prove.","n":[1,2,3,4]}]],"texts":"*Tahāfut al-Falāsifa*, Discussions 1–4; *al-Iqtiṣād fī'l-Iʿtiqād* on the temporal origination of the world. Reception: Ibn Sīnā's necessary emanation; Ibn Rushd's defence of the Aristotelian position; the modern revival of the kalām cosmological argument by William Lane Craig.","works":["*Tahāfut al-Falāsifa*, Discussions 1–4","*al-Iqtiṣād fī'l-Iʿtiqād* on the temporal origination of the world"],"reception":"Ibn Sīnā's necessary emanation; Ibn Rushd's defence of the Aristotelian position; the modern revival of the kalām cosmological argument by William Lane Craig.","status":"The first and longest of the discussions, and the source of a line of argument still running.","era":"1058-1111","discipline":"Philosophy, Theology","refs":[{"n":1,"work":"The Incoherence of the Philosophers","page":"pp. 62–63","canonical":"","quote":"But this entails upholding change in the Eternal. Moreover, the very same difficulty persists in [that the question still] arises concerning this upsurge, intention, will, or whatever you wish to call it: why did it occur now and not earlier? [The consequence is that] there would be either a temporal occurrence without a cause or an infinite regress (of causes].","label":"The Incoherence of the Philosophers, pp. 62–63"},{"n":2,"work":"The Incoherence of the Philosophers","page":"pp. 57–59","canonical":"","quote":"If [the world] is originated through God's origination of it, then why was it originated now and not earlier? Is this because of a lack of an instrument, power, purpose, or nature, such that, once these are replaced by existence, [the world] came to be originated [now]? But then the same difficulty recurs. Or is [its not being created earlier] due to the lack of a will?","label":"The Incoherence of the Philosophers, pp. 57–59"},{"n":3,"work":"Revival of the Religious Sciences, Ihya Ulum al-Din Vol 1","page":"p. 104","canonical":"","quote":"Thirdly, what is not free from changes is an Originated or new thing or whatever is not indepedent of Originated things is itself originated. Its proof is that if it were not so, the world before every new thing may change which has got no beginning and unless these new things come to nought, the turn for the-present new things to come into being would never come.","label":"Revival of the Religious Sciences, Ihya Ulum al-Din Vol 1, p. 104"},{"n":4,"work":"Revival of the Religious Sciences, Ihya Ulum al-Din Vol 1","page":"pp. 103–104","canonical":"","quote":"God said. If you ask them who has created the heavens and the earth they will reply 'God'. God said: Turn your face then towards the true faith, the natural religion whereon God created men—30:30. There fore there are testimonies of the Quran and human nature which are sufficient proofs. All other proofs are unnecessary but still we shall prove by the proof of knowledge that God exists.","label":"Revival of the Religious Sciences, Ihya Ulum al-Din Vol 1, pp. 103–104"}],"answer":null,"siblings":[]}