Infinite regress is akin to the optical phenomenon wherein an infinite sequence of receding images is formed between two parallel facing mirrors.
In space there is no sign saying 'Stop Space ends Here!'
Our Universe is expanding - what is it expanding into?
So are the countless other Universes (called the Multiverse)
So where exactly is origin, let's us call that God
Those of a religious bent have a 'get out' clause
'God is causa sui (self create) Hmmm.
If everything must have a cause, then God must have a cause. If there can be anything without a cause, it may just as well be the world as God, so that there cannot be any validity in that argument
So God does not have a cause nor does existence if we extend this argument
Libertarian free will asserts that human actions do not have causes and are chosen consciously - i.e. are not random.
This begs the question: what causes these actions?
What caused you to take that action?
'I just took it I have got free will'
But there must be a reason why you took it and that reason is caused by another reason ad infinitum ergo 'infinite regress'
Those of a religious bent have a 'get out' clause
'God is causa sui (self create) Hmmm.
If everything must have a cause, then God must have a cause. If there can be anything without a cause, it may just as well be the world as God, so that there cannot be any validity in that argument
So God does not have a cause nor does existence if we extend this argument
Libertarian free will asserts that human actions do not have causes and are chosen consciously - i.e. are not random.
This begs the question: what causes these actions?
What caused you to take that action?
'I just took it I have got free will'
But there must be a reason why you took it and that reason is caused by another reason ad infinitum ergo 'infinite regress'
"Turtles all the way down" is an expression of the infinite regress problem in cosmology posed by the "unmoved mover" paradox. The saying alludes to the mythological idea of a World Turtle that supports the earth on its back.
And who support that turtle? another turtle = infinite regresss
So we are left with the problem not of finite regress
but if infinite regress and as that is mind bogglingly counter intuitive
Let us endeavour to tie this of say the moral diktats of today
Someone of a leftist bent who believes this to be a radically moral universe, ie I am moral and say Trump is immoral
must hold that their moral order rests either on an absolute and ultimate should or on a series of shoulds "all the way down.
the Hindus made the world rest on an elephant, and the elephant on a tortoise, and had nothing to put under the tortoise.
In the light of that, moral assertions are not facts but no more than opinions
So we are left with the problem not of finite regress
but if infinite regress and as that is mind bogglingly counter intuitive
Let us endeavour to tie this of say the moral diktats of today
Someone of a leftist bent who believes this to be a radically moral universe, ie I am moral and say Trump is immoral
must hold that their moral order rests either on an absolute and ultimate should or on a series of shoulds "all the way down.
the Hindus made the world rest on an elephant, and the elephant on a tortoise, and had nothing to put under the tortoise.
In the light of that, moral assertions are not facts but no more than opinions
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