76 PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION2 Nothing to which we can ascribe only maximally indeterminate
properties can consistently be conceived of as uncaused, cause of
anything, of positive worth, or having positive effects.
The reason is simple: none of being uncaused, being a cause, having
positive worth, having positive effects is a maximally indeterminate
property. Given this simple pair of facts, devastating consequences follow
for Maximally Indeterminate RP.
In order not to be led into conceptual sleight of hand, let’s drop talk of
“the Real” and replace it by an expression that is less lovely but free from
traditional associations. Let’s talk about a maximally indeterminate being –
for short, a MIB. An MIB is not a being that has only maximally
indeterminate properties. There cannot be anything like that. Anything has
maximally indeterminate properties only by virtue of having more
determinate properties, and at bottom fully determinate properties.
Instead, an MIB is a being to whom for some reason we can only ascribe
maximally indeterminate properties. If we ascribe even one property that is
not maximally indeterminate to an MIB, we anger the MIB police who
come out and dip us in colored dye. But even an MIB actually has fully
determinate properties. There are some things that are just flagrantly
obvious about an MIB.
To begin with, here are two facts about the properties that RP ascribes to
the Real in order to have any explanation to offer or hypothesis to consider.
Fact 1: None of being uncaused, being a cause, having positive
worth, having positive effects is a maximally indeterminate
property. They are highly abstract, but they are not
maximally indeterminate.
Fact 2: None of being uncaused, being a cause, having positive
worth, having positive effects is a logical property – a
property that logicians in their role as logicians ascribe to
things.
It is obvious that by RP rules:
1 No MIB can be said to be uncaused, a cause, something of positive value,
or something having positive effects.
It is obvious that:
2 Nothing that cannot be said to be a cause can be said to be a cause of
religious experience.