Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site wucs.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxj!ihnp4!wucs!esk From: esk@wucs.UUCP (Eric Kaylor) Newsgroups: net.philosophy Subject: Omniscience and Freedom Message-ID: <379@wucs.UUCP> Date: Fri, 28-Sep-84 16:01:23 EDT Article-I.D.: wucs.379 Posted: Fri Sep 28 16:01:23 1984 Date-Received: Sat, 29-Sep-84 09:09:49 EDT Distribution: net Organization: Washington U. in St. Louis, CS Dept. Lines: 20 [] I wonder if anyone has heard the paradox about the incompatibility between omnipotence and omniscience. It goes like this: if you are omniscient, you already know everything you are going to do. Therefore, you have no freedom to do anything else. --Bob Renninger hou2a!54375rr The "Therefore" is a non sequitur. Forget about omniscience for a second; let's focus on "already knowing what you're going to do." Does such knowledge rule out freedom? Not at all. If you know that you are going to do such-and-such at time t, and you rationally judge that that's the best thing to do, and you act on this judgement at t, then your doing such-and-such is free. How many times do I have to tell you, netland? -- the old "determinism" and "predestination" bugaboos are not what they're cracked up to be. Both are compatible with freedom. --Paul Torek, ihnp4!wucs!wucec1!pvt1047 Please send any mail directly to this address, not the sender's. Thanks.