Sunday, February 12, 2017

The Infinite Regress Step of Cosmological Arguments


Arguments for the existence of God purporting to show that there must have been a creator ex nihilo, first mover, or ultimate sustainer of physical reality all share a step that the particular sort of infinite regress that there would otherwise be is a metaphysical impossibility. I will here defend one particular kind of "no infinite regress" premise, although I don't think it goes very far in buttressing even the species of cosmological argument that can claim this true premise.

Thursday, February 9, 2017

Team Spirit in US Politics

There is reason to doubt that the swing voters of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin will find their hopes for the Trump Administration much met. There will not likely be a big upswing in good jobs; coal will not come roaring back; Mexico will not pay for any walls;  the number of people of dusky complexion will not noticeably decrease. There likely will be loss of health care coverage and the quality of that coverage and inroads against Medicare and Social Security. In short those lower middle income voters who voted for Obama in 2012 and Trump in 2016 because they were disappointed with their economic prospects may very well not find very much to celebrate in the coming years. Many, however, may well remain loyal for reasons that follow.