Infinite Causation Fallacy.

[William]

Exploring the Pitfalls of the Infinite Causation Fallacy (ICF) in Debates


In the realm of philosophical and theological debates, one recurring argument stands out as both intriguing and potentially misleading—the "Infinite Causation Fallacy" or ICF.

This fallacy arises when one party attempts to undermine a particular concept, such as the existence of a creator, by introducing the notion of infinite causation.

The use of ICF often raises more questions than it answers, and it may not be as solid an argumentative strategy as it initially seems.

Question For Debate: Should the argument of Infinite Regress be considered a fallacy, and if not, why not?

[fredonly]

There are benign infinite regressions, which are not problematic, and there are viscious infinite regressions, which are problematic.

It is benign that every element in an infinite causal chain can be accounted for by a prior cause.

However, although each element in the chain is accounted for, the chain itself is not accounted for. This is the vicious aspect of an infinite causal chain.

This is explained more fully in this section of an article in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. The full article (here) discusses more aspects of the issue.

[William]

[Replying to fredonly in post #2]

There appears to be no data in the link which answers the OP question.