Omniscience, Foreknowledge, and the Problem of Divine Freedom

Omniscience, Foreknowledge, and the Problem of Divine Freedom
Author: Graham C. Floyd
Publisher:
Total Pages: 172
Release: 2020-01-09
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9781948048118

If God foreknows the future, then he also foreknows his own future actions. How then is God a free and responsible agent? Four attempts at resolving the problem of human freedom in light of divine foreknowledge are applied to the problem of God's freedom in light of his foreknowledge.

Divine Foreknowledge and Human Freedom

Divine Foreknowledge and Human Freedom
Author: William Lane Craig
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 390
Release: 1991
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9789004092501

The ancient problem of fatalism, more particularly theological fatalism, has resurfaced with surprising vigour in the second half of the twentieth century. Two questions predominate in the debate: (1) Is divine foreknowledge compatible with human freedom and (2) How can God foreknow future free acts? Having surveyed the historical background of this debate in "The Problem of Divine Foreknowledge" and "Future Contingents from Aristotle to Suarez" (Brill: 1988), William Lane Craig now attempts to address these issues critically. His wide-ranging discussion brings together a thought- provoking array of related topics such as logical fatalism, multivalent logic, backward causation, precognition, time travel, counterfactual logic, temporal necessity, Newcomb's Problem, middle knowledge, and relativity theory. The present work serves both as a useful survey of the extensive literature on theological fatalism and related fields and as a stimulating assessment of the possibility of divine foreknowledge of future free acts.

Divine Omniscience and Human Free Will

Divine Omniscience and Human Free Will
Author: Ciro De Florio
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 278
Release: 2019-11-14
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 303031300X

This book deals with an old conundrum: if God knows what we will choose tomorrow, how can we be free to choose otherwise? If all our choices are already written, is our freedom simply an illusion? This book provides a precise analysis of this dilemma using the tools of modern metaphysics and logic of time. With a focus on three intertwined concepts - God’s nature, the formal structure of time, and the metaphysics time, including the relationship between temporal entities and a timeless God - the chapters analyse various solutions to the problem of foreknowledge and freedom, revealing the advantages and drawbacks of each. Building on this analysis, the authors advance constructive solutions, showing under what conditions an entity can be omniscient in the presence of free agents, and whether an eternal entity can know the tensed futures of the world. The metaphysics of time, its topology and the semantics of future tensed sentences are shown to be invaluable topics in dealing with this issue. Combining investigations into the metaphysics of time with the discipline of temporal logic this monograph brings about important advancements in the philosophical understanding of an ancient and fascinating problem. The answer, if any, is hidden in the folds of time, in the elusive nature of this feature of reality and in the infinite branching of our lives.

The Dilemma of Freedom and Foreknowledge

The Dilemma of Freedom and Foreknowledge
Author: Linda Trinkaus Zagzebski
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 224
Release: 1996-04-25
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0195355407

This original analysis examines the three leading traditional solutions to the dilemma of divine foreknowledge and human free will--those arising from Boethius, from Ockham, and from Molina. Though all three solutions are rejected in their best-known forms, three new solutions are proposed, and Zagzebski concludes that divine foreknowledge is compatible with human freedom. The discussion includes the relation between the foreknowledge dilemma and problems about the nature of time and the causal relation; the logic of counterfactual conditionals; and the differences between divine and human knowing states. An appendix introduces a new foreknowledge dilemma that purports to show that omniscient foreknowledge conflicts with deep intuitions about temporal asymmetry, quite apart from considerations of free will. Zagzebski shows that only a narrow range of solutions can handle this new dilemma. A compelling contribution to the field, The Dilemma of Freedom and Foreknowledge will appeal to students and scholars of theistic philosophy and the philosophy of religion.

Freedom, Fatalism, and Foreknowledge

Freedom, Fatalism, and Foreknowledge
Author: John Martin Fischer
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 417
Release: 2015
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0199942390

This book collects sixteen previously published articles on fatalism, truths about the future, and the relationship between divine foreknowledge and human freedom. It includes a substantial introductory essay and bibliography. Many of the pieces collected here build bridges between discussions of human freedom and recent developments in other areas of metaphysics, such as philosophy of time.

The Problem of Free Choice

The Problem of Free Choice
Author: Saint Augustine (of Hippo)
Publisher:
Total Pages: 310
Release: 1955
Genre: Fathers of the church
ISBN:

One of Augustine's most important works, written between 388 and 395, this dialogue has as its objective not so much to discuss free will for its own sake as to discuss the problem of evil in reference to the existence of God, who is almighty and all-good.

Our Fate

Our Fate
Author: John Martin Fischer
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2016
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0199311293

Our Fate collects John Martin Fischer's previously published articles on the relationship between God's foreknowledge and human freedom. The book includes a substantial new introductory essay that puts all of the chapters into a cohesive framework, and presents a bold new account of God's foreknowledge of free actions in a causally indeterministic world.

Time and Eternity

Time and Eternity
Author: William Lane Craig
Publisher: Crossway
Total Pages: 259
Release: 2001-03-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1433517566

This remarkable work offers an analytical exploration of the nature of divine eternity and God's relationship to time.