Re: OT: reality (wasRe: Atlantean)

[snip] stuff about gods and rocks and so on [/snip]

I don't really want to enter this conversation, but because it is the
beginning of the term and I have no papers due yet (I'm a grad student in
philosophy)...

Why not just say no [to the question "can God create a rock so big he cannot
lift it?]?  The reply comes back, "Ah, well then there's something God can't
do! He is therefore not omnipotent!" And the answer: omnipotence is the
ability to do any THING: not any NON-thing. It is nothing against anyone's
omnipotence to say she can't create a square circle...such a thing is not
even conceivable!

(The contradiction, in this case, is as follows: Assume God can create a
rock. Then ask if he can lift it. The answer is yes. So try a bigger
rock...can God lift that one? Yes. And so on, with larger and larger rocks.
Thus, we can prove by induction that for a rock of any size, God can lift
it. As a corollary, we have that it is NOT the case, for any rock, that God
CAN'T lift it. But an answer of "yes" to the original question contradicts
this a priori result, and is therefore logically false. So we are compelled
to say "no", but as I mentioned above, this does not impugn God's
omnipotence, on any reasonable definition of omnipotence.)

Jonathan

-----Original Message-----
From: Constructed Languages List [mailto:CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU] On
Behalf Of Muke Tever
Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2004 12:17 AM
To: CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU
Subject: Re: [CONLANG] OT: reality (wasRe: Atlantean)

E fésto Andreas Johansson <andjo@...>:
> I'll leave you with the question 'Can an omnipotent God create a rock so
> big He cannot lift it?' ...
Can't an omnipotent god exercise the power to limit and unlimit his power?

Christianity asserts that God actually does this:

        "Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life
        that I may take it again.  No one takes it from Me, but
        I lay it down of Myself.  I have power to lay it down, and I have
        power to take it again."      (John 10:17-18)



        *Muke!
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