The argument from free will, also called the paradox of free will or theological fatalism, contends that

omniscience Omniscience () is the capacity to know everything. In Hinduism, Sikhism and the Abrahamic religions, this is an attribute of God. In Jainism, omniscience is an attribute that any individual can eventually attain. In Buddhism, there are diffe ...

and

free will Free will is the capacity of agents to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded. Free will is closely linked to the concepts of moral responsibility, praise, culpability, sin, and other judgements which apply only to ac ...

are incompatible and that any conception of

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

that incorporates both properties is therefore inconceivable. See the various

controversies Controversy is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin ''controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an opposite d ...

over claims of God's omniscience, in particular the critical notion of

foreknowledge Foreknowledge is knowledge regarding future events. It may also refer to: * Foresight (disambiguation) * Precognition - prior viewing of some future event * Knowledge of predestination * Prediction or forecasting – calculated, informed or unin ...

.''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy''
Foreknowledge and Free Will
/ref> These arguments are deeply concerned with the implications of

predestination Predestination, in theology, is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God, usually with reference to the eventual fate of the individual soul. Explanations of predestination often seek to address the paradox of free will, whereby G ...

Omniscience and free will

Some arguments against the

existence of God The existence of God (or more generally, the existence of deities) is a subject of debate in theology, philosophy of religion and popular culture. A wide variety of arguments for and against the existence of God or deities can be categorize ...

focus on the supposed incoherence of humankind possessing

and God's

. These arguments are deeply concerned with the implications of

. Noted Jewish philosopher

Moses Maimonides Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah s ...

described the conflict between divine omnipotence and his creation's person's free will, in traditional terms of good and evil actions, as follows: A "standard Anglican" theologian gave a similar description of Christian revelation: A logical formulation of this argument might go as follows: # God knows choice "C" that a human would claim to "make freely". # It is now necessary that C. # If it is now necessary that C, then C cannot be otherwise (this is the definition of “necessary”). That is, there are no actual "possibilities" due to predestination. # If you cannot do otherwise when you act, you do not act freely (Principle of Alternate Possibilities) # Therefore, when you do an act, you will not do it freely.

Norman Swartz Norman Swartz (born 1939) is an American philosopher and professor emeritus (retired 1998) of philosophy, Simon Fraser University. He is the author or co-author of multiple books and multiple articles on the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. He ...

, however, contends that the above arguments commit the modal fallacy. In particular, he asserts that these arguments assume that if C is true, it becomes necessary for C to be true, which is incorrect as C is contingent (see modal logic). Otherwise, one can argue that the future is set already regardless of his actions. Other means of reconciling God's omniscience with human free will have been proposed. Some have attempted to redefine or reconceptualize free will: * God can know in advance what I will do, because free will is to be understood only as freedom from coercion, and anything further is an illusion. This is the move made by compatibilistic philosophies. * The sovereignty (autonomy) of God, existing within a free agent, provides strong inner compulsions toward a course of action (calling), and the power of choice (election). The actions of a human are thus determined by a human acting on relatively strong or weak urges (both from God and the environment around them) and their own relative power to choose. A proposition first offered by

Boethius Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, commonly known as Boethius (; Latin: ''Boetius''; 480 – 524 AD), was a Roman senator, consul, ''magister officiorum'', historian, and philosopher of the Early Middle Ages. He was a central figure in the tr ...

and later by

Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wit ...

See also '' Divine Providence'' versus the concept of

Fate Destiny, sometimes referred to as fate (from Latin ''fatum'' "decree, prediction, destiny, fate"), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. Fate Although often ...

and

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge Univers ...

, suggests that God's perception of time is different, and that this is relevant to our understanding of our own free will. In his book '' Mere Christianity'', Lewis argues that God is actually outside time and therefore does not "foresee" events, but rather simply observes them all at once. He explains: A common objection is to argue that

Molinism Molinism, named after 16th-century Spanish Jesuit priest and Roman Catholic theologian Luis de Molina, is the thesis that God has middle knowledge. It seeks to reconcile the apparent tension of divine providence and human free will. Prominent ...

, or the belief that God can know counterfactually the actions of his creations, is true. This has been used as an argument by

Alvin Plantinga Alvin Carl Plantinga (born November 15, 1932) is an American analytic philosopher who works primarily in the fields of philosophy of religion, epistemology (particularly on issues involving epistemic justification), and logic. From 1963 to 198 ...

and

William Lane Craig William Lane Craig (born August 23, 1949) is an American analytic philosopher, Christian apologist, author and Wesleyan theologian who upholds the view of Molinism and neo-Apollinarianism. He is Professor of Philosophy at Houston Baptist ...

, amongst others.

Free will argument for the nonexistence of God

Dan Barker Daniel Edwin Barker (born June 25, 1949) is an American atheist activist and musician who served as an evangelical Christian preacher and composer for 19 years but left Christianity in 1984. He and his wife Annie Laurie Gaylor are the current ...

suggests that this can lead to a "Free will Argument for the Nonexistence of God" on the grounds that God's omniscience is incompatible with God having free will and that if God does not have free will God is not a personal being. Theists generally agree that God is a personal being and that God is

omniscient Omniscience () is the capacity to know everything. In Hinduism, Sikhism and the Abrahamic religions, this is an attribute of God. In Jainism, omniscience is an attribute that any individual can eventually attain. In Buddhism, there are diffe ...

,see e.g.

Richard Swinburne Richard Granville Swinburne (IPA ) (born December 26, 1934) is an English philosopher. He is an Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oxford. Over the last 50 years Swinburne has been a proponent of philosophical arguments for ...

''Does God Exist?'' of ''The Catechism of the Catholic Church'' but there is some disagreement about whether "omniscient" means: # "knows everything that God chooses to know and that is logically possible to know"; or instead the slightly stronger: # "knows everything that is logically possible to know"see e.g. John Polkinghorne These two terms are known as ''inherent'' and ''total'' omniscience, respectively.

Notes

References

External links

Foreknowledge and Free Will
article in the '' Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy''
Omniscience and Divine Foreknowledge
article in the '' Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy''
The Paradox of Free will
– An online discussion

{{DEFAULTSORT:Argument From Free Will Free will, argument from Free will Philosophical arguments Philosophical paradoxes

Omniscience and free will

Free will argument for the nonexistence of God

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links