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Al-Ghazali: 2 ideas worth knowing

2 ideas from Al-Ghazali, each explained in a minute and credited to the original work. Free on Savvy.

• Everything that begins to exist has a cause. The universe began. So what caused it?

  The Kalam argument runs in three short steps: everything that begins to exist has a cause, the universe began to exist, therefore the universe has a cause. Islamic theologian Al-Gh…

  — William Lane Craig (modern revival); Al-Ghazali (medieval formulation), The Kalām Cosmological Argument

• Al-Ghazali said fire doesn't burn cotton — habit just makes it look that way

  Centuries before Hume, Al-Ghazali argued we never actually observe fire causing cotton to burn, only one event following another. He concluded causation is just God's consistent ha…

  — Al-Ghazali, The Incoherence of the Philosophers (Tahafut al-Falasifa)

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