The Kalam Argument

7/29/2019 The Kalam Argument

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What is the Kalam argument?

It is an Islamic version of the Cosmological Argument.

Islamic philosophers used the thinking of Aristotle todevelop their argument (just as Aquinas did).

Kalam means speaking in Arabic and it relates to seekingtheological principles through debate and argument.

al-Kindi and al-Ghazali are particularly associated withthe argument as they studied Aristotle and saw how hisideas about cause could be applied within the Muslimfaith.


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How does the argument work?

It claims that everything which begins toexist must have a cause to make it come intoexistence.

The universe must have had a cause, becausethere must have been a time when it began toexist. . .

It is an axiom of reason that all that comes tobe must have a cause to bring it about. Theworld has come to be. Ergo the world must

have a cause to bring it about. Al-Ghazali.


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He argued that there must be a real point at

which the universe began, rather than

infinite regress, because although infinityis a mathematical concept, it cannot exist

in reality.


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Developing the argumentWilliam Lane Craig, a modern American philosopher, supports the

Kalam argument although he writes as a Christian.

The Kalam argument continues by saying that we can now see that theremust have been a time when the universe did not exist, as it cannot have

existed infinitely long ago. This means that there was once a possibility ofa universe coming into existence or a universe not coming into existence and there must have been something to have made the choice between thetwo possibilities. There must be some personal, intelligent agency tochoose that the universe should exist, and this personal intelligent agencymust exist outside time and space.


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1. Everything that begins to exist has a cause ofexistence.

Craig says

. . .it is so intuitively obvious that I think

scarcely anyone could sincerely believe it

to be false.


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2. The Universe began to exist.

Even if the universe began via the Big

Bang, then this theory still works.

However, newer ideas including the idea

of matter continuously coming intoexistence go against this idea. If the latter

can be proved then the theory no longer

works.


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The logical third step

If one and two are accepted, then the

universe has a cause for its existence

has to follow on.


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Criticising the Kalam ArgumentSome people argue that the Kalam argument

misunderstands the nature of infinity and that infinity has toexist in actuality even if we cannot imagine it.

It could be argued that there is no need for there to havebeen an agent making a choice between having a universe

and not having one

the universe could just have begun, atrandom, by accident, without any conscious choice beingmade.

Even if the Kalam argument is accepted, it does not provide

evidence for the existence of a God with all the qualities andcharacteristics that theists claim God has.

It might be argued that the Kalam argument is self-contradictory, since it denies the possibility of infinity

existing in actuality, but uses this as part of an argument todemonstrate the actual existence of an infinite God.


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The Kalam Argument

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Transcript of The Kalam Argument