Rejection of the incompatibilist argument

Iwanttostopphilosophizingbutikant December 08, 2018 at 07:04 2000 views 4 comments

John Martin Fischer argues in favor of the view that there can not be a God (or being) who is omnipotent and omniscient simultaneously with humans have the capability of free will.
His argument can be understood as the following:
If God exists, then he is omniscient and omnipotent.
If God is omniscient and omnipotent, then humans do not have the power to freely make decisions that determine their actions (free will).
God is omniscient and omnipotent.
Therefore, humans do not have the power to freely make decisions that determine their actions (free will).
John Martin Fischer believes that God’s omniscience and omnipotence is contradictory to the concept of humans having free will. How could God possibly know everything and be able to be so powerful that he could in theory make a person do something while claiming that they have the power to do whatever it is they want to do regardless of God’s omnipotence? At time one, God believes human will do X at time two. At time two, human does C. It has to be the case that God cannot know everything or that a human cannot make independent decisions.
I object to John Martin Fischer’s argument, specifically premise two. God can know, at time one, what a human will do at time two, even though they have the power of free will, because knowing what someone will do before they make the decision does not undermine the integrity of the independent and uninfluenced decision. God can simply hypothesize all possible options that a person could have and logically deduce what it is that that person will do at that given time without compromising someone’s free will. The present and future are not fixed parts in time; God’s knowledge of what will happen and what is happening probably always changes to account for our decisions, but again this in no one contradicts the ability of the human race to make independent decisions.

Comments (4)

Jamesk December 08, 2018 at 07:41 #234758 0 likes

There is a special relationship between man and God in regards to freewill. The story of Genesis shows it perfectly. God gives Adam freewill and tells him not to do X. It is obviously a set up, God knows that either Adam or Eve or both will give in to their curiosity.

Eating the apple was not the test, it was a given, the test was what would happen afterwards. Adam as we already know first lies and denies the whole thing and when cornered blames it on Eve. This is the first case of moral responsibility in the face of determinism and Adam screwed it up.

vulcanlogician December 08, 2018 at 08:26 #234766 0 likes

I suppose an omniscient god might understand free agents in (something like) a quantum superposition before they freely choose an option. So, in principle, it seems possible for free will and omniscience to coexist. This is only an issue with libertarian free will of course. If compatiblism is true, things become much easier for God to predict.

Jamesk December 08, 2018 at 08:50 #234771 0 likes

Reply to vulcanlogician God doesn't need to predict, he already knows what will happen but knowing and causing are different things.

vulcanlogician December 09, 2018 at 00:27 #235064 0 likes

Quoting Jamesk

God doesn't need to predict, he already knows what will happen but knowing and causing are different things.

Now I feel like we need to resolve libertarian/compatibilist free will before getting anywhere. Fat chance on us achieving that!

(I'm an atheist hard incompatibilist anyway, so even fatter chance.)