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The meaning of omniscience
- God is perfectly knowledgeable of all true propositions
- He is capable of applying this perfection to know everything which is possible
to know
- So, for all propositions, God knows whether they are true or false
- God is also perfectly knowledgeable of non-propositional knowledge (ie
ability and acquaintance knowledge).
- Aquinas argues that God possesses a direct awareness of all things, which he
refers to as God’s “knowledge of vision.”
- Aquinas does believe that God knows propositions and concepts, but only
because He has complete knowledge of the contents and power of human
minds.
- By perfectly knowing the nature of our intellectual powers, God therefore
knows every thought, concept, and proposition that could potentially be
formed by human intelligence.
- However, Aquinas insists that this does not mean that God acquires
knowledge by considering propositions or making inferences from them in
the way humans do. Although God knows every concept and proposition, His
knowledge is therefore not dependent on, or constituted by, propositional or
conceptual thought.
,The meaning of omnipotent
- God is perfectly powerful
- Voluntarsists argue that He is capable of applying this perfection to do
anything - including tasks which are logically impossible (e.g make it false that
2x4=8)
- Because of God’s ‘immensity’ “nothing at all can exist which does not depend
on Him”, according to Descartes
- This includes: maths, logic and moral truths
- However, Aquinas argues that God is capable of applying his perfection to do
anything which is is possible to do
- He argued that God’s power is grounded in His infinite divine nature, which
“possesses within itself the perfection of all being.” Therefore, God’s
omnipotence extends only to what is logically consistent with the perfection
of being.
- For example, Aquinas posits “that which implies being and non-being at the
same time” cannot be brought about by God “not because of any defect in
the power of God, but because it has not the nature of a feasible or possible
thing.”
- Thus, God cannot create something that both exists and does not exist,
because this is inconsistent with being, the perfection upon which His power
is grounded.
- Aquinas therefore concludes that it is more accurate to say that such things
cannot be done than that God is incapable of doing them
The meaning of omnibenevolence
- God is supremely good
- God does not do or command anything that is morally wrong, either: (a)
because God always refrains from doing/commanding anything that is
morally wrong despite the possibility (given God’s omnipotence) - thus, God
is contingently supremely good. Or (b) because God cannot possibly
command anything that is morally wrong - God is necessarily supremely
good
- Theological voluntarism posits that God is the source of all (moral) goodness
in so far as God chooses what is right and what is wrong (good or bad).
, - God is the source of all (moral) goodness in something along the lines of the
Platonic Form of the Good. As such, God is the eternal (moral) good in which
all temporal/finite (moral) goods participate.
The view that God is eternal
- An eternal God exists outside of time
- Therefore, he cannot have a beginning or an end
- Boethius defines divine eternity as the "simultaneous and complete
possession of infinite life"
- This would mean that God perceives all of time (past, present and future)
simultaneously in the ‘eternal present’.
- Boethius argues that time is like a circle. The human experience is
chronological in the sense that you travel around the circle. Whereas, God, as
an eternal being, is at the centre experiencing all of time simultaneously
without beginning or end.
- Moreover, Anselm argues that existing within a particular time or place is a
limitation because it confines a being to having different parts of itself exist
at different times or in different places. Therefore, as that than which nothing
greater can be conceived, God cannot exist within time in the same way that
we do.
- However, he also attempts to reconcile this with God’s actions within time by
positing that, although God is not within time, He still has a relationship with
time.
- This is possible because all of time exists in God.
- While we experience time as unfolding moment by moment, God eternally
experiences all moments of time - past, present, and future - as equally
present.
- Thus, all of time exists eternally within divine eternity.
- God is therefore eternally present to every moment and everything that
occurs within time, not merely by perceiving time from outside it, as Boethius
suggests, but because all of time is actually contained within God and is
therefore eternally present to Him.
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3/
The meaning of omniscience
- God is perfectly knowledgeable of all true propositions
- He is capable of applying this perfection to know everything which is possible
to know
- So, for all propositions, God knows whether they are true or false
- God is also perfectly knowledgeable of non-propositional knowledge (ie
ability and acquaintance knowledge).
- Aquinas argues that God possesses a direct awareness of all things, which he
refers to as God’s “knowledge of vision.”
- Aquinas does believe that God knows propositions and concepts, but only
because He has complete knowledge of the contents and power of human
minds.
- By perfectly knowing the nature of our intellectual powers, God therefore
knows every thought, concept, and proposition that could potentially be
formed by human intelligence.
- However, Aquinas insists that this does not mean that God acquires
knowledge by considering propositions or making inferences from them in
the way humans do. Although God knows every concept and proposition, His
knowledge is therefore not dependent on, or constituted by, propositional or
conceptual thought.
,The meaning of omnipotent
- God is perfectly powerful
- Voluntarsists argue that He is capable of applying this perfection to do
anything - including tasks which are logically impossible (e.g make it false that
2x4=8)
- Because of God’s ‘immensity’ “nothing at all can exist which does not depend
on Him”, according to Descartes
- This includes: maths, logic and moral truths
- However, Aquinas argues that God is capable of applying his perfection to do
anything which is is possible to do
- He argued that God’s power is grounded in His infinite divine nature, which
“possesses within itself the perfection of all being.” Therefore, God’s
omnipotence extends only to what is logically consistent with the perfection
of being.
- For example, Aquinas posits “that which implies being and non-being at the
same time” cannot be brought about by God “not because of any defect in
the power of God, but because it has not the nature of a feasible or possible
thing.”
- Thus, God cannot create something that both exists and does not exist,
because this is inconsistent with being, the perfection upon which His power
is grounded.
- Aquinas therefore concludes that it is more accurate to say that such things
cannot be done than that God is incapable of doing them
The meaning of omnibenevolence
- God is supremely good
- God does not do or command anything that is morally wrong, either: (a)
because God always refrains from doing/commanding anything that is
morally wrong despite the possibility (given God’s omnipotence) - thus, God
is contingently supremely good. Or (b) because God cannot possibly
command anything that is morally wrong - God is necessarily supremely
good
- Theological voluntarism posits that God is the source of all (moral) goodness
in so far as God chooses what is right and what is wrong (good or bad).
, - God is the source of all (moral) goodness in something along the lines of the
Platonic Form of the Good. As such, God is the eternal (moral) good in which
all temporal/finite (moral) goods participate.
The view that God is eternal
- An eternal God exists outside of time
- Therefore, he cannot have a beginning or an end
- Boethius defines divine eternity as the "simultaneous and complete
possession of infinite life"
- This would mean that God perceives all of time (past, present and future)
simultaneously in the ‘eternal present’.
- Boethius argues that time is like a circle. The human experience is
chronological in the sense that you travel around the circle. Whereas, God, as
an eternal being, is at the centre experiencing all of time simultaneously
without beginning or end.
- Moreover, Anselm argues that existing within a particular time or place is a
limitation because it confines a being to having different parts of itself exist
at different times or in different places. Therefore, as that than which nothing
greater can be conceived, God cannot exist within time in the same way that
we do.
- However, he also attempts to reconcile this with God’s actions within time by
positing that, although God is not within time, He still has a relationship with
time.
- This is possible because all of time exists in God.
- While we experience time as unfolding moment by moment, God eternally
experiences all moments of time - past, present, and future - as equally
present.
- Thus, all of time exists eternally within divine eternity.
- God is therefore eternally present to every moment and everything that
occurs within time, not merely by perceiving time from outside it, as Boethius
suggests, but because all of time is actually contained within God and is
therefore eternally present to Him.
