mymindtank: Can events occur without causes?
Well, based on our observations of the things around us and the processes of production, I would have to say that nothing is without a cause. I believe this is the basis of the cosmological argument, or a posteriori. This argument is most used to support creationism, implying that the “Creator” is the cause for Creation. BUT, as David Hume points out, you can only infer upon the cause that which is attributed to it by its effect.
Therefore, to take a textbook example used by many Creationist’s, we can only infer upon the watchmaker the characteristics attributed to it by the watch. So if the watch is bad, then we can infer that the watchmaker is a bad watchmaker. If the watch maker is good, then we can assume the watchmaker is good. Which then leads me to conclude that because perfection does not exist in “creation”, then it does not exist in the “Creator” as well.
Another point I would like to make in regards to cause and effect, is that it is quite obvious that the watchmaker did not create the watch out of thin air but rather by assembling pre-existing raw materials. My qualm lies in this stage of the cause and effect cycle… it NEVER ends! Where did the raw materials come from? If a watch implies a watchmaker, then what do the raw materials imply? That someone created those raw materials? Then who made the raw materials to create the raw materials and so on and so forth. It NEVER ENDS!
I would reason that every cause is the effect of another cause. A match (cause) starts a fire (effect) > the fire (cause) destroys a house (effect) > the destruction of the house (cause) makes a family homeless (effect) and so on. Following this logic, Cause and Effect is at best a cyclical argument in that a cause is in itself an effect that implies yet another cause, which also happens to be an effect implying another cause, etc…
Nothing is without a cause and nothing can be a cause without first being an effect.
