PHIL 1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Cosmological Argument, Wrinkle, William Lane Craig
Document Summary
Not a being that brings itself into existence. Not simply an eternal being that does not exist by the causal activity of some other beings (the universe, if it were eternal and uncaused, would qualify as that) Definition: a being whose existence is accounted for by its own nature; the reason or explanation or ground for its existence lies within the being itself; Samuel clarke thought that the self-existent being was a logically necessary being; it"s nature is such that its non-existence is logically impossible (that is, its non-existence involves a contradiction) this must exist. A perfect being: existence is in the very concept of a perfect being because existence is a perfection. Demea (hume reading) says that a necessarily existing being carries the reason of his existence in himself; and cannot be supported not to exist without an express contradiction. Possible world: a world in which it can exist; a self-existent being exists in all possible worlds.
