PHL201H1 Lecture 12: PHL205 Lecture 12
Thursday, October 20, 2016
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PHL205 Lecture 12
Free Will
- The Knotty Problem
• It seems that an omniscient God is incompatible with free will.
- How is it possible that God’s foreknowledge doesn't turn future continents into
necessary outcomes?
•
- If future contingents are really contingent, how is knowledge of them possible?
• You cannot know things that are wrong because we hold the understanding
that knowledge is definitely true—as compared to beliefs.
• If God has foreknowledge, he cannot be wrong. Whatever happens in the
future must be so if God knows it.
• Boethius’ response to second question:
- Knowledge doesn't only depend on the objects of knowledge but also on the
knower. When we know something, it isn’t just the object impressing on us it
is also us contributing to that knowledge. Knowledge depends on the
knower.
- Knowledge can be correct without being whole. I.e. if you see an orchestra
but don’t hear it, you aren’t perceiving it the wrong way, just the different
way. In this sense, the knower is directly involved in the knowledge that is
emerging. The nature of the knower determines the knowledge. The nature
of me, as a rational being, determines the nature of the thing I am
perceiving.
- God is eternal. God’s way knowing things is also eternal. For God to know
the future, it is not like a human beings knowing the future. For god, the past,
present and future are as present as present itself. If for God everything is int
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Document Summary
The knotty problem: it seems that an omniscient god is incompatible with free will. Whatever happens in the future must be so if god knows it: boethius" response to second question: Knowledge doesn"t only depend on the objects of knowledge but also on the knower. When we know something, it isn"t just the object impressing on us it is also us contributing to that knowledge. Knowledge can be correct without being whole. I. e. if you see an orchestra but don"t hear it, you aren"t perceiving it the wrong way, just the different way. In this sense, the knower is directly involved in the knowledge that is emerging. The nature of the knower determines the knowledge. The nature of me, as a rational being, determines the nature of the thing i am perceiving. For god to know the future, it is not like a human beings knowing the future.
