“Can God be omnipotent” Discuss

1. Descartes Voluntarism

• Believes that Gods omnipotence involves the power to do anything even the logically impossible- says that God could have made it false that 2X4=8

• Has the power to changed mathematical, geometric and logical truths- God existed before the laws of logic and created them as is therefore not bound by them

• Logic=human limitations

• However:

• Voluntarism is incoherent and undermines theodicies- if it is logically possible for God to do the logically impossible then it is not logically impossible- self defeating- destroys logical necessity

• Undermines theodicies- why cant god give us free will and prevent evil?

2. Aquinas- God can only do the logically possible

• Gods power is founded in Gods infinite nature which possess the perfection all being- Gods omnipotence Can only bring about things which are consistent with the perfection of being

• Even though God cannot do the impossible- not limitation of his omnipotence once properly understood as power founded in the perfection of being

• However: The paradox of the stone- “can god create a stone so heavy he cant lift is”- Aquinas’ definition is therefore too narrow

• Mavrodes- the stone is logically self contradictory- no such thing as a stone too heavy too lift

3. Self Imposed Limitation

• Augustine

• The only limits on Gods power are limits that God chose- limited by choice- divine self limitation

• When creating the earth- God made is logically consistent and orderly

• If God did something logically impossible within the universe- disrupt the logical order of universe and make it chaotic

• Free will needed to do good/evil

• However :

• If God can do logically impossible then no need for divine limitation

• Reduces the number of things God can do, can’t do what he used to- not all powerful

Conclusion:

• God cannot be al powerful

• God being all powerful is incompatible with other attributes or god, for the omnipotence of God to be justified- the definition of Omnipotence needs to be compromised (Anthony Kenny)