1

The argument from freewill is a paradox that can be loosely described as, if God is omniscient or all knowing then God subject's, man , cannot have freewill as the 'fate' or actions of man have been predetermined by God. If Man has no freewill then God cannot have given man freewill

Is the argument from freewill, further supported by the casual argument of the kalam cosmological argument, and the causal indeterminacy of quantum mechanics.

Such that if the argument for God is a causal argument and the argument that freewill exists aslong as things are acausal. Is this also contradictory, or a Parodox, that you conclude God could not exist because of these circumstances?

Edit: For clarification of causal paradox.

If the universe is causal, then you can argue that God exists using the Kalam argument and God can give man free will. If the universe is not causal, then God cannot exist. However, the free will of man can exist and therefore God could have given man free will.

I dont know if the causal paradox I described is entirely Sound I just wanted to put it out there..

10
  • if you redefine omniscient as "knowing whatever it's logically possible to know" then the paradox goes away. Of course this does nothing to demonstrate that an entity who "knows whatever it's logically possible to know" exists in the first place. You can compare this to the definition of "omnipotent" to "can do whatever it's logically possible to do", that solves similar paradoxes about omnipotence.
    – armand
    Commented Nov 5, 2023 at 4:52
  • Foreknowledge and predetermination are two different things, see SEP, Foreknowledge and Free Will. A parent may know what their kid is going to do in this or that situation, it does not mean that they predetermine them to do it. God knows everything, but predetermines only what he chooses to, he is also timeless, so his foreknowledge is not even situated in time.
    – Conifold
    Commented Nov 5, 2023 at 7:40
  • @armand Could you argue that if an entity exists that, "knowing everything that Is logical to possible to know" would be able to know the fate of man, unless knowing the fate of man is not logically possible to know. If man's fate is known then is man free? and should man therefore be resigned to their fate.
    – 8Mad0Manc8
    Commented Nov 5, 2023 at 11:54
  • The idea is that if God gave us freedom, then its logically impossible to know what we are going to do, and therefore there is no logical contradiction if God does not know that (assuming we go with the definition i gave you).
    – armand
    Commented Nov 5, 2023 at 12:09
  • @armand If God gave us freedom then it is logically impossible for man to know their fate because man is free, and if God himself is free, then God can not know his fate and the fate of man?
    – 8Mad0Manc8
    Commented Nov 5, 2023 at 13:09

1 Answer 1

1

Omniscient is a word open to various nuances of interpretation. For example, some people will point out that it can mean knowing all there is to know, in which case what we might yet do in the exercise of our free may be considered outside the realm of what there is to know. Omniscient could also mean knowing everything one wishes to know. God might simply have decided that she wanted to leave us to our own devices, and didn't care about foreseeing the consequences of our actions. Or omniscience could mean knowing all possible outcomes, so perhaps God can foresee all of the choices we might make, and all of the possible consequences, without pinning us down to a particular path through the options. Or perhaps God has a way to foresee exactly what we will do even though it is not pre-determined, because to believe that it is foreseeable only if it is predetermined is a limitation of human reason that does not apply to God. The point of the foregoing is that there is more than enough wiggle room to evade any paradox if you are hell-bent on believing in God and free will, and to assume that logic can allow you to make sense of a concept as slippery as God is probably a mistake anyway.

4
  • Perhaps God is not so slippery as you !! :-).
    – 8Mad0Manc8
    Commented Nov 5, 2023 at 20:57
  • @8Mad0Manc8 very possibly! All the best. Commented Nov 5, 2023 at 21:42
  • Very well positioned! but the last one was indeed a foul. Commented Nov 5, 2023 at 21:48
  • @IoannisPaizis I hope very much that you can summon the kindness to forgive it! Best wishes. Commented Nov 5, 2023 at 21:55

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .