The paradox is tied to having both omniscience and being the creator. If you create an organism and know exactly what that organism will do, you have in fact predestined that organism. For the organism to be truly free, it would have to be able to break out and do something unknown to the creator. Hence, an omniscient creator cannot create an organism with true free will.
In my opinion, Aquinas dodged the question - making lots of arguments about why the will is truly free but never really addressing the paradox. Personally, I don't think the paradox is answerable, so I don't hold it against him :) Others have addressed the paradox by noting that you are free from your own personal point of view - though you are not from God's point of view. To me, this is equivalent to saying that freedom is illusory - proving my point. It is interesting to note that the determinism of Calvin is related to this issue. -- Jim P.S. A humorous aside. When I was in first grade (Catholic School) my teacher - a nun of course - told us that God created us with free will and that God knows everything we would ever do ahead of time. I didn't know the word paradox at the time - but I still pointed it out to her. I was sent the office..... At 05:09 PM 2/12/02 -0500, you wrote: > >Aquinas was dealing with the free will paradox - that >is, how can all > >omnipotent and omniscient God create a being with free >will if a willful > >act by definition would have to be something the >omniscient God could not > >predict. But, Aquinas came down firmly on the side of >free will. >Why can't an omniscient God "know" the choices that we would make by free >will? Did Aquinas claim that God doesn't know the future? I don't remember >his writings well, but I remember that Christ said that only his father >knew when Armageddon would begin. That sounds like precognition to me. > >Rip Pisacreta, Ph.D. >Professor, Psychology, >Ferris State University >Big Rapids, MI 49307 >email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > >---------- >Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: Click Here >--- >You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
