How William Lane Craig misrepresents science

I'm joined by Dr. Daniel Linford and Phil Halper to explain what Craig gets wrong about science's bearing on the beginning of the universe. Specifically, we respond to a recent video by ‪@ReasonableFaithOrg‬.

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OUTLINE

0:00 Intro
2:22 Craig’s video
9:22 Material causality
18:14 Beginning to exist
20:05 Big Bang and cosmological models
33:18 No particular model is probable?
36:26 Past finitude doesn’t imply beginning
51:57 Quantum gravity
55:51 Window shade analogy
1:00:10 BGV Theorem
1:17:13 Vilenkin’s paper
1:26:00 Sean Carroll and Guth
1:38:12 The fixed Kalam
1:41:20 Abstract object counterexamples?
1:51:45 Second law of thermodynamics
1:55:10 The universe as a counterexample?
1:57:56 Document! Don’t just assert!
2:06:45 Conclusion

NOTE

At 1:15:05, I wanted to summarize the problems with Craig’s use of the BGV theorem. I didn’t provide the most helpful summary in the video, so here’s a summary:

(1) At best, the BGV theorem shows that a spacetime region which has been expanding on average throughout its history could not have been expanding forever. Such an expanding region must have begun its expansion at some finitely distant point in the past. This does not imply that all of spacetime itself has a beginning because all of spacetime may not have been expanding on average throughout its history. In such a case, the BGV Theorem would be inapplicable to the whole of spacetime itself. In fact, as pointed out in the video, both Guth and Vilenkin explicitly say that the BGV theorem only shows that the inflation of the universe has a beginning, it doesn’t show that the universe as a whole or spacetime as a whole has a beginning.

(2) Recent literature purports to give grounds to doubt the BGV theorem. Whether or not this recent literature is correct, it reveals that this is not a settled issue. Instead, it is an active area of research and debate. Relevant papers here include Lesnefsky et al (2023) https://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract..., Geshnizjani et al (2023) https://link.springer.com/article/10...., Nomura (2012) https://arxiv.org/abs/1205.5550, and Aguirre (2007) https://arxiv.org/abs/0712.0571.

(3) The BGV theorem is only a theorem about classical spacetimes. But we probably don’t live in a classical spacetime. We have good reasons internal to the standard model and general relativity for thinking that these theories will be surpassed by a new theory able to incorporate both. So our current understanding of spacetime will be replaced by something else. So the BGV theorem does not apply to the spacetime we live in.

(4) Even if we do live in a classical spacetime, the Malamant-Manchak theorems show that, in all likelihood, we couldn’t ever know enough about the global structure of spacetime to know that all of spacetime had a beginning.

(5) Even if the BGV theorem shows that the past is finite — and, as explained above, it does not — we cannot infer that the universe (i.e., the totality of all physical reality) began to exist, for the reasons given in the section of the video entitled “Past finitude does not entail beginning to exist”.

RESOURCES

(1) The video to which we're responding (‪@ReasonableFaithOrg‬):    • Fixing the Kalam Cosmological Argument  

(2) Dan's dissertation, “Cosmic Skepticism and the Beginning of Physical Reality”: https://philarchive.org/archive/DAN_S...

(3) Saatsi, “Non-causal explanations in physics”: https://philarchive.org/archive/SAANEI

(4) “No, science doesn’t show the universe began to exist”:    • No, science doesn’t show the universe...  

(5) Phil’s book, “Battle of the Big Bang”: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/...

(6) ‪@PhilHalper1‬'s Kalam video:    • Physicists & Philosophers debunk the ...  

(7) Phil's video responding to Craig's responses:    • Kalam Cosmological Argument 2.Physici...  

(8) My Kalam playlist:    • Kalam Cosmological Argument  

(9) Linford, “A modal condition for the beginning of the universe”: https://philarchive.org/rec/LINAMC-2

(10) Linford, “Neo-Lorentzian Relativity and the Beginning of the Universe”: https://philarchive.org/rec/LINNRA-3

(11) Linford, "Big Bounce or Double Bang? A Reply to Craig and Sinclair": http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/17188...

(12) Linford, “The Kalam Cosmological Argument Meets the Mentaculus”: http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/16833...

(13) Halper, "The Kalam cosmological argument: Critiquing a recent defence": https://philarchive.org/rec/HALTKC

(14) My Springer book with Dan: https://link.springer.com/book/10.100...

(15) My website: https://josephschmid.com