Attributes of God - God's Omniscience and Human Freewill - an Everlasting God??? According to Ockham
- Created by: Alasdair
- Created on: 12-05-17 10:14
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- God's Omniscience and Human Freewill - an Everlasting God??? According to Ockham
- Kenny and Swinburne
- Kenny rejects logic of saying God knows all time in one 'simultaneous moment'
- Swinburne agrees saying biblical ideas fit in much better with an Everlasting God.
- He argues that God knows all that is logically possible to know - free actions are yet undecided therefore it is NOT possible for God to know them.
- William of Ockham (b.1288) disagrees
- Accidental necessity - he makes 3 key points:
- God is in time
- Humans are free
- God knows the future
- To maintain omniscience
- God knows everything in present linear time frame....
- He knows ALL causes and therefore he can 'predict' what will happen in short term future.
- If God 'knows' (can predict) today (Monday) what I will do (freely) on Wednesday then tomorrow (Tuesday) it becomes 'accidentally necessary'
- In this way Ockham claims God can also know the future without determining it
- Accidental necessity - he makes 3 key points:
- Vardy sees a problem
- Ockham denies God's knowledge is dependent on his creatures.
- However, surely what causes God to know that I chose to have beans on toast for tea is my decision???
- Vardy says it would be ok to say:
- God is in time AND knows future because humans are determined
- OR God is in time and DOESN'T know future because it hasn't happened yet.
- But...he cannot hold onto all three claims because they are contradictory.
- And when Ockham is challenged to explain how it really is possible without either compromising human freewill or God's omniscience, Vardy says he retreats behind 'mystery'.
- Ockham says: "Freedom is not freedom unless its total."
- Vardy argues that he contradicts himself.
- Summary of Ockham
- His purpose is to preserve God's omniscience (what he 'predicts' will happen) without undermining OUR freewill
- Trying to overcome perceived contradiction between us having freewill and what God 'knows' is happening WITHOUT FAIL
- He does this by limiting God's knowledge of what WILL happen to short-term knowledge.
- Summary of Ockham
- His purpose is to preserve God's omniscience (what he 'predicts' will happen) without undermining OUR freewill
- Trying to overcome perceived contradiction between us having freewill and what God 'knows' is happening WITHOUT FAIL
- He does this by limiting God's knowledge of what WILL happen to short-term knowledge.
- So, today what God 'predicts' becomes 'accidentally necessary' tomorrow.
- His purpose is to preserve God's omniscience (what he 'predicts' will happen) without undermining OUR freewill
- So, today what God 'predicts' becomes 'accidentally necessary' tomorrow.
- Summary of Ockham
- His purpose is to preserve God's omniscience (what he 'predicts' will happen) without undermining OUR freewill
- Kenny and Swinburne
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