Renowned German philosopher, Immanuel Kant, in his book, The Critique of Pure Reason, under the heading, “Principle of the Succession of Time According to the Law of Causality: All changes take place according to the law of the connection of Cause and Effect,” explains that, “The principle of the connection of causality among phenomena…applies also when the phenomena exist together in the same time, and that cause and effect may be simultaneous” (Kant, 1787, I.3.3.2.3.3, emp.
So clearly, causes can take place simultaneously with their effects. The effect of creating a lap occurs simultaneously with its cause-the act of sitting-though sitting is obviously the cause of making a lap. When one sits in a seat, his legs form a lap. Simply put: the Law of Causality allows for simultaneous causes. Philosopher William Lane Craig explains that this argument rests on a pseudo-dilemma, since the argument does not “consider the obvious alternative that the cause of the Big Bang operated at t o, that is, simultaneously (or coincidentally) with the Big Bang” (Craig, 1994). But even if it did apply to the Creator, Hawking’s belief that there’s no room for the Creator since the Law of Causality requires a previous cause-which could not be the case if time did not exist before the Big Bang-is erroneous. The Law of Causality as a law of natural science only applies to that which can be empirically observed-namely, the natural Universe (i.e., that which is “material”), not supernatural entities. It is a common mistake to oversimplify the Law of Causality, assuming that it states: “Every effect must have an adequate cause which preceded it.” In actuality, the law more correctly states: “Every material effect must have an adequate antecedent or simultaneous cause” (see Miller, 2011b for an in depth discussion of the Law of Causality).
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