Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Did the Universe have a Beginning? Alexander Vilenkin



T.W. sent me googling today after Alexander Vilenkin's answer to the question: "Did the Universe Have a Beginning?" (Thanks TW)

His answer, after dismissing the three major views arguing for a beginningless universe, is: "Probably, yes." (34:31)

So William Lane Craig is not being "intellectually dishonest" in arguing, from physics, Premise 2 of the Kalam Argument, which states: The universe began to exist

BTW - It's not relevant to these discussions to call people "intellectually dishonest" (like some have called WLC). This assumes epistemic access into WLC's (or anyone's) mind - quite an omniscient claim! We can, logically, simply use statements such as "I think Vilenkin (or whomever) is wrong in his claim X."  Then, argue against the argument which concludes with Claim X, rather than (ad hominem) arguing against the person (the classical fallacy of irrelevant premises).