sbchan
09-26-2006, 06:54 PM
AT A GLANCE: CONCEPTS OF GOD
1. God and gods
• Monotheism is the belief in a single god.
• Polytheism is the belief in many gods.
• The word “God” (upper-case “G”) is meant as a title for a unique being.
2. What is supernatural?
• To count as God, a being would have to be supernatural.
• The word “supernatural” doesn’t have a clear meaning.
• A nonphysical being that created the physical world would count as supernatural by any definition.
Characteristic Definition
Supernatural has significant control over large parts of nature
Omnipotent All-powerful
Omniscient All-knowing
Omnibenevolent Perfectly good
Omnipresent Present everywhere
Necessary Existence Impossible to not exist
Eternal/Everlasting Eternal is existing outside of time whereas everlasting is existing throughout time
Immutability Unchanging
3. Perfect being
3.1. Three central perfections. According to most theologians:
• God is omnipotent: all-powerful.
• God is omniscient: all-knowing.
• God is omnibenevolent: entirely good.
3.2. Necessary existence
• If God exists necessarily, God can’t fail to exist.
3.3. Eternal or everlasting
• If God is eternal, God is outside time.
• If God is everlasting, then God is in time but didn’t begin to exist and won’t stop existing.
3.4. There is a Debate about whether God is completely unchanging.
3.5. Omnipresence could mean various things. Alternatively:
• Pantheism: God is identical with nature.
• God is not identical with nature but pervades the world the way a soul is thought to pervade a body.
• God is omnipresent by causing the world to stay in being at every moment.
3.6. There is a Debate about whether God has feelings.
4. Puzzles and paradoxes
4.1. Omnipotence
• If God is omnipotent, this seems to imply that there’s nothing God can’t do. But there seem to be things that even God couldn’t do.
4.1.1. The square circle
• God can’t create a square circle, and so is not omnipotent.
• The argument:
1. If God is omnipotent, then God has unlimited power (definition).
2. If God has unlimited power, then God can perform any action (premise).
3. Therefore, if God is omnipotent, then God can perform any action (from 1 and 2).
4. Making a square circle would be performing an action (premise).
5. Therefore, if God is omnipotent, then God can make a square circle (from 3 and 4).
6. No one can make a square circle (premise).
7. Therefore, God can’t make a square circle (from 6).
8. Therefore, God is not omnipotent (from 5 and 7).
• Creating a square circle is a pseudo task; nothing would count.
• Being unable to perform a pseudo task isn’t a limit on a being’s power.
4.1.2. The stone paradox
• God arguably could not create a stone so heavy that He couldn’t lift it.
• Mavrodes argues: in God’s case (but not in ours), creating such a stone amounts to a pseudo task.
• Also: there is no limit to the size of the stone God could create.
• We only get puzzles when we define the task by reference to God’s power.
4.2. Omniscience
4.2.1. Feelings
• Problem: if God has no feelings, there seem to be things we know that God doesn’t.
• Solution: perhaps omniscience only calls for knowing which propositions are true.
4.2.2. Free will
• The argument:
1. Necessarily, by omniscience, God knows what we will do.
2. Necessarily, if something is known, it is true.
3. Therefore, by the Transfer of Necessity, what we will do is necessary, hence not free.
• This puzzle arises whether or not God is in time.
• One solution:
• Saying God is omniscient means necessarily, if some proposition X is true, then God knows this.
• This doesn’t imply that X itself is necessary; X many depend on a free choice.
• Another solution:
• Open theism: not all statements about the future are already true or false.
• If something is not already true or false, nothing now exists for God to know.
5. There is a debate about whether it’s correct to think of God as a being.
6. Metaphors for God
• Sally McFague suggests thinking of God as mother, or as lover, or as friend.
7. God and religion
• Agreeing that there is a god or God doesn’t entail being religious.
• Being religious doesn’t entail believing in God or gods.
WEB RESOURCES
For a discussion of omnipotence, see the entry by Joshua Hoffman and Gary Rosenkrantz in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy at http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/omnipotence.
The section of Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy, in which he sets forth his account of how divine omniscience is compatible with human freedom, is in Chapter V, beginning on p. 163. This is also online at http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/latin/boethius/boephil.html
這是第一課的大綱，之前沒弄好，現在也放上來吧。
還有，用了這書那麼多大綱，也好應該賣些廣告的:D
有興趣者可以到這裡pre-order (這個廣告將會在我每次post大綱時出現的！):
http://www.amazon.com/Thinker-Guide-Philosophy-Religion/dp/0321243757/sr=1-1/qid=1158447682/ref=sr_1_1/104-1822581-9050313?ie=UTF8&s=books
1. God and gods
• Monotheism is the belief in a single god.
• Polytheism is the belief in many gods.
• The word “God” (upper-case “G”) is meant as a title for a unique being.
2. What is supernatural?
• To count as God, a being would have to be supernatural.
• The word “supernatural” doesn’t have a clear meaning.
• A nonphysical being that created the physical world would count as supernatural by any definition.
Characteristic Definition
Supernatural has significant control over large parts of nature
Omnipotent All-powerful
Omniscient All-knowing
Omnibenevolent Perfectly good
Omnipresent Present everywhere
Necessary Existence Impossible to not exist
Eternal/Everlasting Eternal is existing outside of time whereas everlasting is existing throughout time
Immutability Unchanging
3. Perfect being
3.1. Three central perfections. According to most theologians:
• God is omnipotent: all-powerful.
• God is omniscient: all-knowing.
• God is omnibenevolent: entirely good.
3.2. Necessary existence
• If God exists necessarily, God can’t fail to exist.
3.3. Eternal or everlasting
• If God is eternal, God is outside time.
• If God is everlasting, then God is in time but didn’t begin to exist and won’t stop existing.
3.4. There is a Debate about whether God is completely unchanging.
3.5. Omnipresence could mean various things. Alternatively:
• Pantheism: God is identical with nature.
• God is not identical with nature but pervades the world the way a soul is thought to pervade a body.
• God is omnipresent by causing the world to stay in being at every moment.
3.6. There is a Debate about whether God has feelings.
4. Puzzles and paradoxes
4.1. Omnipotence
• If God is omnipotent, this seems to imply that there’s nothing God can’t do. But there seem to be things that even God couldn’t do.
4.1.1. The square circle
• God can’t create a square circle, and so is not omnipotent.
• The argument:
1. If God is omnipotent, then God has unlimited power (definition).
2. If God has unlimited power, then God can perform any action (premise).
3. Therefore, if God is omnipotent, then God can perform any action (from 1 and 2).
4. Making a square circle would be performing an action (premise).
5. Therefore, if God is omnipotent, then God can make a square circle (from 3 and 4).
6. No one can make a square circle (premise).
7. Therefore, God can’t make a square circle (from 6).
8. Therefore, God is not omnipotent (from 5 and 7).
• Creating a square circle is a pseudo task; nothing would count.
• Being unable to perform a pseudo task isn’t a limit on a being’s power.
4.1.2. The stone paradox
• God arguably could not create a stone so heavy that He couldn’t lift it.
• Mavrodes argues: in God’s case (but not in ours), creating such a stone amounts to a pseudo task.
• Also: there is no limit to the size of the stone God could create.
• We only get puzzles when we define the task by reference to God’s power.
4.2. Omniscience
4.2.1. Feelings
• Problem: if God has no feelings, there seem to be things we know that God doesn’t.
• Solution: perhaps omniscience only calls for knowing which propositions are true.
4.2.2. Free will
• The argument:
1. Necessarily, by omniscience, God knows what we will do.
2. Necessarily, if something is known, it is true.
3. Therefore, by the Transfer of Necessity, what we will do is necessary, hence not free.
• This puzzle arises whether or not God is in time.
• One solution:
• Saying God is omniscient means necessarily, if some proposition X is true, then God knows this.
• This doesn’t imply that X itself is necessary; X many depend on a free choice.
• Another solution:
• Open theism: not all statements about the future are already true or false.
• If something is not already true or false, nothing now exists for God to know.
5. There is a debate about whether it’s correct to think of God as a being.
6. Metaphors for God
• Sally McFague suggests thinking of God as mother, or as lover, or as friend.
7. God and religion
• Agreeing that there is a god or God doesn’t entail being religious.
• Being religious doesn’t entail believing in God or gods.
WEB RESOURCES
For a discussion of omnipotence, see the entry by Joshua Hoffman and Gary Rosenkrantz in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy at http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/omnipotence.
The section of Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy, in which he sets forth his account of how divine omniscience is compatible with human freedom, is in Chapter V, beginning on p. 163. This is also online at http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/latin/boethius/boephil.html
這是第一課的大綱，之前沒弄好，現在也放上來吧。
還有，用了這書那麼多大綱，也好應該賣些廣告的:D
有興趣者可以到這裡pre-order (這個廣告將會在我每次post大綱時出現的！):
http://www.amazon.com/Thinker-Guide-Philosophy-Religion/dp/0321243757/sr=1-1/qid=1158447682/ref=sr_1_1/104-1822581-9050313?ie=UTF8&s=books