Limited Good Choices

David Stockhoff · 13 Aug 2010, 15:29 · from 2010-August.txt.gz

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From: dstockhoff at verizon.net (David Stockhoff)
Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2010 11:29:55 -0400
Subject: (urth) Limited Good Choices
In-Reply-To: <4C64D135.4090507 at io.com>
References: <SNT123-W245B7B0B1B60AA09F1C2D9CF980 at phx.gbl>
	<4C64D135.4090507 at io.com>
Message-ID: <4C6564F3.7040709 at verizon.net>

Actually, omniscience is an ancient philosophical problem. God doesn't 
have the choice not to foresee everything. See Severinus Boethius' The 
Consolation of Philosophy.

Jeff Wilson wrote:
> On 8/12/2010 11:41 PM, Lee Berman wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Nicholas Jost: If you look in the archive there was the assumption 
>>> in a post that
>>> as people moved "up" towards Yesod that choices would be limited.  
>>> Nothing in the
>>> text or Catholic theology supports such silliness.
>>
>> I am guessing this was my post you are referring to. It is based on 
>> the idea that
>> we humans feel we have choices because of the limits to our 
>> perception of the future.
>> We can only guess what will happen if we do something, so we feel we 
>> have choices.
>>
>> If we could see into the future we would be limited in our choices. 
>> We wouldn't
>> wonder what we should do because we'd know what we are about to do. 
>> An omniscient
>> being would have no choices whatsovever.
>
> I think this assertion has weak empirical and logical support. Humans 
> make poor choices even when they have reasonable knowledge of the 
> consequences, and there's no treatment of the idea that G-d may choose 
> not to foresee everything.
>
>

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