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Omnipotence
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So... What's omnipotence again?
So... there is no God?
- We are human
- We only have human experience
- We only know worldly experience
- God is not human
- We cannot describe God
“A Supreme Being is… a conception…
but the reality of which can neither
be proved nor disproved by pure reason.” – Kant
Maximal power:
- any contingent state of affairs that falls under the laws of logic that not even a God can bring about
- The necessity of the past
- Libertarian free will
, “…Freethinkers adopted the habit of saying that there were such and such arguments which mere reason might urge against the existence of God, but of course [the Christians] knew as a matter of faith that God did exist”.
– Bertrand Russell
Is God Omnipotent?
Can the notion of omnipotence be comprehended?
Can God be described?
Is there a God at all?
Omnipotence
Omnipotence: the power to bring about absolutely any state of affairs
- Power = ability + oppotunity
- The laws of logic and non-contradiction are the basis for intelligible discussion
- God is incomprehensible if he does not comply to the laws of logic
- An impossible state of affairs:
a square circle
- A necessary state of affairs:
that a circle is shaped
Contingent State of Affairs
"Understanding God is like understanding the
most difficult of all puzzles – a puzzle we cannot see, which may be beyond time itself and which we can only dimly comprehend" Peter Vardy
a) That a leaf fell
b) That Lake Burley Griffon floods an odd amount of times less than 10
c) That Mr Kyriacou freely decides to read a book
Descartes: we cannot place restrictions on God
Omnipotence:
Maximal Power
Is God simply incomprehensible?
Can we have a concept of God
“God can do all things, is rightly understood to mean that God can do all things that are possible…”
– Aquinas
“Perhaps there are some who would rather deny such a powerful God,
than believe that all other matters are uncertain” – Destcartes
- Maximal Power:
That which no other being cannot exceed
- Maximal power is not total power
- A contingent state of affairs: one that is possible but not necessary