A Close Examination of Beginningless Karman and Vedāntic First Causes

Sophia:1-16 (forthcoming)
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Abstract

In this paper, I draw attention to various doctrines common to different Vedāntic traditions. In particular, I pay close attention to the doctrine of beginningless _karman_. I also note that this doctrine seems to stand in tension with Leibnizian Cosmological Arguments (LCAs) and Kalām Cosmological Arguments (KCAs). This tension arises because defenders of these arguments argue that an infinite causal regress or an actual infinite cannot be physically instantiated and because the doctrine of beginningless _karman_ seems to imply that such a regress or actual infinite can be physically instantiated. I address this tension by showing that not all interpretations of beginningless _karman_ involve an infinite causal regress or an actual infinite. I close this paper by highlighting a few features that Vedāntic traditions have that make them more resistant to some objections to LCAs and KCAs.

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Akshay Gupta
Cambridge University (PhD)

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References found in this work

The Kalam Cosmological Argument.William Lane Craig & James D. Sinclair - 2009 - In William Lane Craig & J. P. Moreland (eds.), The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology. Oxford, UK: Wiley‐Blackwell. pp. 101–201.
The Leibnizian Cosmological Argument.Alexander R. Pruss - 2009 - In William Lane Craig & J. P. Moreland (eds.), The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology. Oxford, UK: Wiley‐Blackwell. pp. 24–100.
Karma, rebirth, and the problem of evil.Whitley Kaufman - 2009 - In Kevin Timpe (ed.), Arguing about religion. New York: Routledge. pp. 222.
The Hume-Edwards principle and the cosmological argument.Alexander R. Pruss - 1998 - International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 43 (3):149-165.

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