Cosmological argument

=== Existence of causal loops ===
A causal loop is a form of [[predestination paradox]] arising where traveling backwards in time is deemed a possibility. A sufficiently powerful entity in such a world would have the capacity to travel backwards in time to a point before its own existence, and to then create itself, thereby initiating everything which [[Logical consequence|follows from]] it.

The usual reason given to refute the possibility of a causal loop is that it requires that the loop as a whole be its own cause. [[Richard Hanley]] argues that causal loops are not logically, physically, or epistemically impossible: "[In timed systems,] the only possibly objectionable feature that all causal loops share is that coincidence is required to explain them."<ref>Richard Hanley, [https://doi.org/10.1023%2FB%3ASYNT.0000035847.28833.4f No End in Sight: Causal Loops in Philosophy, Physics and Fiction], ''Synthese''</ref> However, Andrew Loke argues that causal loop of the type that is supposed to avoid a first cause suffers from the problem of vicious circularity{{what?|date=December 2023}} and thus it would not work.<ref>Andrew Loke, ''God and Ultimate Origins'' (Cham: Springer Nature, 2017), chapter 4.</ref>