Det kosmologiska valet. Om Gud, big bang och universums existentiella mysterium

Abstract

One of the premises of the so-called Kalām Cosmological Argument is that the universe began to exist. Modem Big Bang cosmology may seem to provide remarkable support for this hypothesis, since it estimates the universe to be 13.7 billion years old. In this article I argue, however, that Big Bang cosmology, whether interpreted quantum mechanically or solely along the lines of general relativity, neither supports nor undermines the idea that the universe came into being out of nothing. The possible ex nihilo origin of the universe is not a scientific, but a strictly philosophical or theological issue. Having reached this conclusion, I try to analyse the Big Why question of philosophical cosmology: Why does the universe exist? Initially, there are only two possible answers: Either it exists necessarily, or it is caused by something non-physical; non-physical, since «the universe» by definition is all that physically exists. On closer examination, this latter, causal possibility will soon pulverize into infinitely many sub-possibilities. Aided by Ockham’s razor, I cut away all those metaphysically loaded sub-possibilities that lack any explanatory extra value, and guided by Anselm’s ontological argument, I argue that God, theistically understood, is the most reasonable candidate for being a necessarily existing, non-physical, causally capable entity. Acknowledging the possibility that the Big Why question lacks an answer, i.e., that the universe exists by chance, contingently and uncaused, I arrive at three main, possible, cosmological responses. Assessing their relative reasonableness, I conclude that the theistic possibility is a justified hypothesis.