Time: 11.11.2003, 11 am
Place: Zriny 14, 412
Text; Paul Helm, "Timelessness anf Foreknowledge"
Presentor: Maja Malec
The claim is that God's foreknowledge is logically incompatible with human
freedom. The claim is supported by the following reasoning. If there
is an omniscient God, his knowledge encompass all of the future, including
the future acts of human beings. God is infallible, therefore it is impossible
for him to be mistaken. But if he necessarily knows what how somebody
will act in the future, it seems impossible for that person to do otherwise.
Therefore his act is not free.
In the "Timelessness anf Foreknowledge," Helm analyses Boethius' solution of the problem. God is eternal, which according to Boethius means that he is being out of time. But then, God indeed knows everything, but not before it happens. His knowledge is not foreknowledge, and therefore God's omniscience is compatible with human freedom.
Helm argues that Boethius's solution does not work.
A Boethian solution
An Ockhamist solution
A Middle Knowledge solution
