Why Stephen Hawking’s Cosmology Precludes a Creator

Philo 1 (1):75-93 (1998)
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Abstract

Atheists have tacitly conceded the field to theists in the area of philosophical cosmology, specifically, in the enterprise of explaining why the universe exists. The theistic hypothesis is that the reason the universe exists lies in God’s creative choice, but atheists have not proposed any reason why the universe exists. I argue that quantum cosmology proposes such an atheistic reason, namely, that the universe exists because it has an unconditional probability of existing based on a functional law of nature. This law of nature (“the wave function of the universe”) is inconsistent with theism and implies that God does not exist. I criticize the claims of Alston, Craig, Deltete and Guy, Oppy and Plantinga that theism is consistent with quantum cosmology.

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Citations of this work

Quantum Cosmology and Theism.Daniel Murphy - 2008 - Philo 11 (1):93-119.

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References found in this work

Modality and Quantification.Jaakko Hintikka - 1961 - Theoria 27 (3):119-128.
The probabilistic argument from evil.Alvin Plantinga - 1979 - Philosophical Studies 35 (1):1 - 53.
World and essence.Alvin Plantinga - 1970 - Philosophical Review 79 (4):461-492.
Emerging from imaginary time.Robert J. Deltete & Reed A. Guy - 1996 - Synthese 108 (2):185 - 203.

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