Linford, Daniel and Malpass, Alex (2025) The Grim Reaper Argument is an argument for no one. [Preprint]
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Abstract
According to a prominent philosophical argument for the beginning of time – the Grim Reaper Argument (GRA) – had it been possible for the past to be infinite, then a provably impossible scenario could have been constructed. Such a scenario is not possible, so, the GRA concludes, the past cannot be infinite. Here, we show that the GRA includes one premise acceptable only for Humeans and another premise acceptable only for anti-Humeans. Since, plausibly, everyone is either a Humean or an anti-Humean, the GRA is an argument for no one. Additionally, we argue that there may not be a way to successfully reformulate the GRA with premises acceptable to either Humeans or anti-Humeans.
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| Item Type: | Preprint | |||||||||
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| Keywords: | Grim Reaper Argument; Kalam Cosmological Argument; Infinity; Finitism; Beginning of time; David Lewis; Humeanism | |||||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Mathematics > Ontology General Issues > Scientific Metaphysics General Issues > Determinism/Indeterminism General Issues > Laws of Nature General Issues > Science and Religion |
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| Depositing User: | Dr. Daniel Linford | |||||||||
| Date Deposited: | 06 Nov 2025 13:35 | |||||||||
| Last Modified: | 06 Nov 2025 13:35 | |||||||||
| Item ID: | 27130 | |||||||||
| Official URL: | https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11229-0... | |||||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Mathematics > Ontology General Issues > Scientific Metaphysics General Issues > Determinism/Indeterminism General Issues > Laws of Nature General Issues > Science and Religion |
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| Date: | 5 November 2025 | |||||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/27130 |
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