Omniscience

What does God's omniscience mean?

- Has no false beliefs -> is impossible for God to be mistaken

- God knows everything

- There is nothing that God cannot know

Where does the traditional Judeo-Christian view of God being omniscient stem from?

Biblical account of Hod knowing people's actions + secrets

What are the issues with God's omniscience?

- How does God have knowledge?

- The issue of God being able to see the future

- The issue of free will vs determinism

- The issue of being justly punished for our actions by a loving God

What did Anselm say about God?

"You are supremely perceptive"

What is full omniscience?

God's unlimited knowledge + ability to see past, present + future

What concept does full omniscience fit in with?

The atemporal God

Why must God be atemporal in order to have full omnipotence?

Perceives all of existence in one simultaneous viewing -> complete knowledge of the world + all that happens-- in it (including future)

What is the atemporal God incompatible with the concept of the future?

Ultimate knowledge (nothing new is added to this) -> no limit to what God knows + isn't bound by time -> no future

What did Boethius say about God?

"Simultaneous possession of boundless life"

What did Boethius argue about God and time?

Time for God is non-existent since he is outside of the limits of time

What is time for an atemporal God in comparison to humans?

- Time for humans is linear

- Time for God is collapsed -> one simultaneous instance

What is a problem with an atemporal God being simple (unchanging) in relation to omniscience?

- Unable to gain new knowledge by definition because he is complete -> would add to God + take away his simplicity

- Impossible to retain the features of the Judeo-Christian God (doesn't directly challenge omniscience)

What is a problem with an atemporal God in relation to learning from experience?

- We acquire knowledge through experience

- God is atemporal -> exists in a non-physical state -> incapable of learning through experience (perceives everything eternally)

- Cannot have new knowledge in the same way we understand knowledge

How does Aquinas respond to the problem of God gaining knowledge through experience?

A priori knowledge + knowledge is non-physical (so God can gain this)

What is a problem with the atemporal God in relation to omniscience?

- Doesn't interact with our world -> unable to gain knowledge of what happens within the world (knowledge of human beings + our moral behaviour)

- Some statements change their truth values over time -> a being who knows all true propositions would have to know that something is both true + not true -> logically impossible

- God's knowledge couldn't be unlimited -> must be aspects of knowledge that he can't know

What is a solution to the problem of interaction with an atemporal God?

View him as sempiternal -> gain new knowledge by following the same history at the same speed humans do

What is limited/partial omniscience?

God's knowledge being limited to what is logically possible OR has chosen to limit his knowledge to allow free will (Vardy)

What concept does limited omniscience fit in with?

The sempiternal God

How is God's omniscience reduced when he is sempiternal?

Incapable of seeing the future (is bound by time) -> give God knowledge equal to that of historians (with complete knowledge)

Why can it be argued that God can only know what is logically possible?

Future has not happened -> essentially doesn't exist -> God knows all there is to know -> not knowing the future wouldn't be an issue (there is no future)

How can the concept of the future be criticised?

The future isn't a physical entity -> cannot experience it -> is not a place -> is open to continuous change + not set -> any discussion of the future is mistaken because isn't not a logical possibility (Swinburne)

Why is free will a problem for God's omniscience?

Have freedom to act -> God's can't know how you will act -> can surprise him -> can change -> isn't simple

What problem does Boethius propose?

The problem of divine foreknowledge

What is the problem of divine foreknowledge?

- He asks how it is that God can have infallible foreknowledge about future events -> would require God to predetermine it

- If God knows someone will do x -> they can't fail to do x -> doesn't have free will + x isn't contingent (open to change)

What were the steps to Boethius' response to the problem of divine foreknowledge?

1. God as a simultaneously present being

2. Knowledge vs foreknowledge

3. God upon a "lofty peak"

4. Simple + conditional necessity

What is Boethius' point of God being simultaneously present?

- Is outside of time + simultaneously present in all parts of time (no past, present etc)

- Problem: would give him knowledge of time before it happened -> removes free will

- Boethius: has a different relationship with time + knowing isn't the same as causing

What is Boethius' point of knowledge vs foreknowledge?

- Problem with divine foreknowledge -> God has knowledge of the present + future possibilities -> not free to choose

- Boethius argues that there is no past/present/future -> all temporal events are present simultaneously to God's knowledge

- "Knowledge of a never passing instant"

- Infallible knowledge about the future because he already sees everything as one simultaneous event

- Infallibility of God's knowledge is grounded on a choice

What is Boethius' point of the lofty peak?

- God sees time "as though from a lofty peak above them"

- God is above + looking down -> can see where we've come from + the possible routes we can go -> driver can only see where they are right know

- Has knowledge of our future but for God this is because it is his present

What is Boethius' point of simple and conditional necessity?

- Simple necessity is tied to the nature of an entity -> e.g we are rational

- Conditional necessity is not tied to the nature of the entity but to some contingent state of affairs at a particular time (what it is like at that point)

- God has divine conditional knowledge of all instances -> knows what we could be doing but the choice is still ours (not a requirement of our nature)

What is an example of contingent necessity?

- Seeing a person sitting

- It is conditionally necessary that they be seated -> nothing in their nature than forces them to be seated

- Present knowledge + person's contingent willing to sit are perfectly compatible -> know what is happening right now + no impact on freedom

What are the problems with Boethius' view?

- William Lane Craig -> God cannot know what time it is now -> if he doesn't know the present he can't know if we're alive/dead, whether we're praying to him -> problem of interaction

- Kenny -> ideas of divine timeless are incoherent -> distinct temporal events (simultaneity diminishes context of event) BUT this is a human approach

- Doesn't adequately defend free will -> says God's knowledge "owes nothing to later events" (lofty peak argument is illusion of choice) -> Marenbon "philosophy has vindicated human freedom, only to sacrifice it in the space of a couple lines"

- God's omniscience imposes necessity on human actions (cannot come to know anything -> being surprised)

What approach does Anselm develop?

Four-dimensionalist

Why does Anselm develop Boethius' argument?

To reconcile an omniscient God with the possibility of punishment

What world do humans live in according to Anselm?

Presentist -> all that exists is the present (past is gone + future hasn't occurred)

What world does God live in according to Anselm?

Four-dimentionalist world -> past/present/future co-exist

What does Anselm's four-dimentionalist approach directly link to and why?

Atemporal + omnipotent God -> God is unlimited by space + time -> God can be in the past/present/future all at once

How does Anselm describe the four-dimensionalist world?

"In which all periods of time are contained"

What is God in relation to time and space to Anselm?

God is not just in every time + space but every time + space is in God (is created + sustained by God -> is not constrained by them but is in control of them)

What are Anselm's views of preceding necessity?

Comes from God's orders + requires laws of nature to act in a certain way

What are Anselm's views of following necessity?

Comes from the free choices of God's creation -> follows from what we choose

Is God aware of both following and preceding necessity? Why?

Yes -> is experiences time in a present manner

What necessity does God cause?

Preceding necessity -> the rest is due to human choice

What are the problems with Anselm's view?

- Seems to suggest God can change + be affected by the actions of his creatures -> denied by theologians

- (Kenny's argument applies here)

- Subjected to laws of nature -> why does he need to see time in this way + have a distinction between necessities

What is process theology and how does it relate to omniscience?

- Created in 20th century as a way to remedy issues with Nature of God

- Have free will -> influences entire universe (self-determination)

- God interacts with the universe + exists in a everlasting state -> is changeable + isn't omniscient

- Don't see God as the judge

What are Calvin's views about free will and omniscience?

- God is the ultimate force + in control of everything

- Is omniscient -> we are predestined + have no free will

- Has complete sovereignty -> controls everything (including aspects of history) -> no free will

What is Boethius' idea of the Middle Knowledge?

God has complete knowledge of the world + counterfactuals (knowledge of what an individual would do in any situation that could possibly arise)

Who influenced Luis de Molina's views?

Boethius' middle knowledge

What are Luis de Molina's views about free will and omniscience?

- God has given free will + has complete knowledge of what each human will do in each situation (BUT doesn't choose it for them)

- Similar to Aquinas