Author Topic: Avoiding modal collapse  (Read 139 times)

Dominik

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Avoiding modal collapse
« on: December 02, 2019, 04:42:51 pm »
My idea is that Gods act of creation entails his knowledge of contingent facts (e.g. my decision for X instead of Y) in the sense that God, as an atemporal being knows through his act of creation every contingent fact since every moment is within him. This doesnīt prevent God from necessitating some things, e.g. the appearance of life, but it saves libertarian free will and divine foreknowledge.
I recognize that this doesnīt solve the problem of contrastive explanations, but I think that it gives us an account of how God eternally willing free creatures might look like. I hope at least that it is a line of thought worth continuing to pursue and that my notes arenīt useless. Any thoughts?
« Last Edit: December 02, 2019, 09:21:41 pm by Dominik »

Ouros

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Re: Avoiding modal collapse
« Reply #1 on: December 04, 2019, 01:09:45 pm »
How is life necessary? That seems absurd.

Dominik

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Re: Avoiding modal collapse
« Reply #2 on: December 05, 2019, 05:32:02 pm »
I donīt take life itself to be necessary, but as an example of something God might be impressed with, so that he creates. I donīt think that it entails that life must have arisen on earth, much less that the individual animals (like us two) must have been there, though Iīm very much convinced, that one could argue, that if God created a world, then life anywhere at some point must have arisen.
An alternative could be to say that God wills freedom for his creation or rather "creativity" (though it is hard to see what that could be without conscious agents).My idea was that God creates without determining, but that he knows through his act of creating since every moment in within him. I know that it doesnīt solve the problem as to how God knows a contingent fact without changing, but if successfull, it avoids modal collapse.