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The Meaning of Life

the existence of the satellite only if I assume that there existed materials out of which the satellite was made, and scientists who made it for some purpose. It therefore does not matter what type of explanation we give, whether causal or teleological: either type, any type of explanation, will imply the existence of something by reference to which the explicandum can be explained. And this in turn must be accounted for in the same way, and so on for ever.

But is not God a necessary being? Do we not escape the infinite regress as soon as we reach God? It is often maintained that, unlike ordinary intelli- gent beings, God is eternal and necessary; hence His existence, unlike theirs, is not in need of explanation. For what is it that creates the vicious regress just mentioned? It is that, if we accept the principle of sufficient reason (that there must be an explanation for the existence of anything and everything the existence of which is not logically necessary, but merely contingent6), the existence of all the things referred to in any explanation requires itself to be explained. If, however, God is a logically necessary being, then His existence requires no explanation. Hence the vicious regress comes to an end with God.

Now, it need not be denied that God is a necessary being in some sense of that expression. In one of these senses, I, for instance, am a necessary being: it is impossible that I should not exist, because it is self-refuting to say “I do not exist.” The same is true of the English language and of the universe. It is self-refuting to say “There is no such thing as the English language” because this sentence is in the English language, or “There is no such thing as the universe” because whatever there is, is the universe. It is impossible that these things should not in fact exist since it is impossible that we should be mistaken in thinking that they exist. For what possible occurrence could even throw doubt on our being right on these matters, let alone show that we are wrong? I, the English language, and the universe, are necessary beings, simply in the sense in which all is necessarily true which has been proved to be true. The occurrence of utterances such as “I exist,” “The English language exists” and “The universe exists” is in itself sufficient proof of their truth. These remarks are therefore necessarily true, hence the things asserted to exist are necessary things.

But this sort of necessity will not satisfy the principle of sufficient reason, because it is only hypothetical or consequential necessity.7 Given that some- one says “I exist,” then it is logically impossible that he should not exist. Given the evidence we have, the English language and the universe most certainly do exist. But there is no necessity about the evidence. On the principle of suf- ficient reason, we must explain the existence of the evidence, for its existence is not logically necessary.

In other words, the only sense of “necessary being” capable of termi- nating the vicious regress is “logically necessary being,” but it is no longer seriously in dispute that the notion of a logically necessary being is self- contradictory.8 Whatever can be conceived of as existing can equally be conceived of as not existing.

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