Omniscience and Freewill
June 18th, 2007by Jeremy Thomas
Philosophical Thought of the Year:
Can anybody explain to me how omniscience and free will can co-exist? For example, if I have to choose A, B or C, and it is already known that I will choose B, how can I do anything but choose B?
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June 19th, 2007 at 12:26 am
Just because someone knows what you will choose doesn’t mean you have to choose it. Now I am not saying my wife is omniscient however when the west Santa Barbara channel buey is reading 10 feet at 18 seconds and the wind is blowing out of the east she knows I will be going surfing. In this instance I am not surfing because she know I will but because based on the report I choose to surf.
This very question was posed at http://www.comereason.org/phil_qstn/phi038.asp and I think the moderator did a good job answering.
June 19th, 2007 at 8:52 am
Jake,
You make an interesting point (as does the article), and the argument that an omniscient being doesn’t influence my choosing B is a good one. But I would say, under this argument, that I’m operationg under the perception of free will, not free will in its purest form, as I could never actually have chosen A or C since it was already known that I would choose B.
Look at this at more of a macro level. If all events and outcomes in this world are known, then nothing you and I can do will alter them. We can sit on the couch and do nothing, or we can get out into the world and be as proactive as possible, it’s still not going to change the way events and outcomes unfold since they’re already known.