The Nature of God: God, eternity and free will Flashcards
How does time have significance to humans?
- As humans we are governed by time, we always talk through past, present and future
- We also talk about time leading to decay, this is an error in language we all make, e.g it is not time that rusts the iron bar
- we live in a dimension of time
What is the issue of whether God is governed by time the same way humans are?
- If God is timeless, how does this affect his relation with us?
- Begs the question of whether we truly make our own decisions or possess free will
- If we do not have free will, then does this still mean our relationship with God is genuine?
What is Boethius’ view of divine eternity?
- He argues that God is timeless and eternal, he is outside of the time process and unaffected by it
- He argues how our knowledge is not like God’s, ours is time-constrained but God has an understanding of eternal order
Quote Boethius on his belief of God’s Divine Eternity in time?
“complete possession of all at once illimitable life”
- Nothing in life has has possession of all illimitable life apart from God
- God experiences complete possession all at once and has an atemporal experience, whereas we have a temporal experience of life and the world
How does Polish Philosopher Tadeusz Kotarbiński argue against Boethius’ notion of divine eternity?
- Treats time as the duration of objects, objects do not exist within time but their lastingness is what we refer to as time
- No objects means there is nothing at all, not empty time and space
- If time is the duration of objects, then this poses a problem as God is not an ‘object’ so how does he sit outside a time process that is contingent on objects
How does Einsteins Theory of General Relativity dispute Boethius’ notion of Gods divine eternity?
- Asserts that time might not be the unchanging thing that our everyday experience might suggest
- Our language treats time as a process, e.g wave erosion, but if the continuity of time is an illusion, our own understanding is flawed so does God sit outside of this?
How does Eleonare Stump and Norman Kretzmann argue against Boethius’ notion of divine eternity? (Quote)
- Argued that we are temporal beings so we have a past, but because God is atemporal he does not, so can God then change the past?
- “God cannot alter the past, but he can alter the course of the battle of Waterloo”
- This creates the idea that God cannot alter the past, only what is present to him, so can he change something in the past that affects the present, considering that is the present to him?
What issue of divine ‘foreknowledge’ does Boethius attempt to answer?
- If God is timeless then surely he knows what is going to happen and what we are going to
- Then surely we should hold him partly responsible for the evil in the world
Quote Boethius on divine ‘foreknowledge’ and expand on his point?
- “Providence sees… governed by necessity… humans see… they do not regard as being governed by necessity”
- He argues God knows what will happen, precisely, but we cannot be surprised as obviously his knowledge is fixed and precise
- However he makes the point that we do not have Gods experience, we experience choices at face value, e.g I can choose whether to write this essay or not, we experience the choice, God does not CAUSE he simply KNOWS
Quote Boethius on Gods foreknowledge and free will + expand on his point?
- “Gods foreknowledge does not impose necessity on things”
- Boethius points out there is a difference between knowing what someone will do and causing that to happen
- E.g I know that it is my friends birthday next month, but it does not necessitate I will cause the birthday and the celebration, its just foreknowledge of the event
Outline the two types of necessity cited by Boethius and what one is God part of?
- Simple Necessity, Something that has to be the case, e.g a mortal HAS to die
- Conditioned Necessity, When the necessity follows from choice, e.g If I choose to walk, I cannot not being walking
- God has Simple Necessity, everything he has foreknowledge of MUST be the case, whereas we have Conditioned Necessity, we experience choice to create a necessary condition
Quote Henry Sidgwick on support for Boethius’ notion of free will?
- ” I have a distinct consciousness”
- Sidgwick argues that our experience is one of choices, the fact that some choices are difficult is what makes the process so conscious
- When I make a choice it is a conditioned necessity, a product of my choice
What is an issue with Boethius’ divine ‘foreknowledge’ and use D.Z. Phillips
- Some argue that it minimises God’s qualities, the notion of timelessness preserves the greatness and power of God, but not his lovingness
- D.Z. Phillips goes as far to say God is love, but Boethius’ conception makes it hard to put it this way
- To what extent is God still loving when you allow someone to fall into great harm despite kiwis git will happen and by extension can prevent it
- Why did God allow Hitler and Stalin to do what they did
What is St Anselm’s view of Divine Eternity?
- In agreement with Boethius that God is timeless and eternal, as a consequence of his own omnipotence
- He argues that God is a being ‘than which nothing greater can be conceived’ which as a result leads to God being considered impassible, not capable of being affected by that is outside himself, he is not contained by the same laws we are as a result of his omnipotence
- God is simple and outside of time to preserve his supremacy, “all at once in several places or times”
How does Anselm differ from Boethius in his view on free will?
- Usually free will is viewed as a choice, but Anselm believes it is in rectitude, doing the right thing
- For Anselm we are free to do the right thing and part of an action being righteous is the fact that we had the choice to do the right thing and chose it
- Doing the right thing without choosing it is not righteous whereas the choice to also do wrong and choosing right is far more righteous
- Accordance with Augustine and his view on evil
