A Reflection on the Arguments for Causal Necessity

The problem of the causal necessity is one of the important and fundamental problems of the Islamic philosophy, and it plays a central role in subjects such as determinism/free will, and temporal origination/temporal eternity. This article, after reviewing different kinds of causal necessity, explains the most important arguments suggested by the advocates of causal necessity. Scrutinizing the arguments, it concludes that they cannot prove their desired result. It argues that most of the arguments for causal necessity suffer from the fallacy of begging the question (the fallacy of petitio principia), and they unconsciously presuppose causal necessity before any argument. At the end, an argument against causal necessity is suggested; an argument that has not been employed so far by the deniers.