CFS-WB-CH04

it is rather than some other way. Therefore, the cause of something’s
existence is its ultimate explanation. Now in as much as the uncaused
reality (existence itself which exists through itself) is the ultimate cause
of all other realities (which could have been some other way because
they are not existence itself), the uncaused reality must also be the ultimate
explanation for why everything else is the way it is, and not some
other way.
We can restate this as follows: the answer to the question about why
I could have been taller or shorter than I am lies in other realities outside
of me. If those other realities do not exist through themselves, then the
answer to the question about why they exist would lie in still other realities
beyond themselves. As you can see, this chain of questions and
answers will not come to a complete answer (a complete explanation to
the question “Why?”) until we reach an answer that explains itself completely
— that is, an uncaused reality.
The chain of
questions will
not come to
a complete
answer until
we reach an
answer that
explains itself
completely.
The Complete Set of Correct Answers to the
Complete Set of Questions
Recall, that the uncaused reality must be able to provide an ultimate answer
to the question, “Why?” this reality existing through itself (which
has no limitation to its existence) does not simply explain its own existence
but explains the existence of everything else that could possibly
be. It contains within itself the answers to all possible questions — and so
we say that this reality is perfectly intelligible. It is the complete set of
correct answers to the complete set of questions.
We now come to the culmination of Lonergan’s argument. He
proves that there is only one kind of reality that can be the complete
set of correct answers to the complete set of questions — an unrestricted
act of thinking. He shows this through a process of elimination. First,
he considers whether a material thing could contain the complete set
of correct answers to the complete set of questions. Of course, this
cannot be, because any material reality has limits in space, time, dimension,
power, qualities, and so forth. Such realities can only answer a very
small number of questions. Then, he considers collections of material
realities, such as a universe, a hypothetical multiverse, or some other
grouping of multidimensional material realities, but these too have
spatial limits, temporal limits, limits to power and qualities which prevent
them from containing the complete set of correct answers to the
complete set of questions. Since material realities will never be able to
answer every question, Lonergan turns to immaterial realities such as
78 Apologetics I: The Catholic Faith and Science
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