Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T16:47:21.129Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

God's propositional omniscience: a defence of the strictly restricted account

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 October 2018

MOHAMMAD SALEH ZAREPOUR Open the ORCID record for MOHAMMAD SALEH ZAREPOUR [Opens in a new window]
MOHAMMAD SALEH ZAREPOUR*
Affiliation:
Clare Hall, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB3 9AL, UK
*
e-mail: msz26@cam.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

By discussing three different understandings of the notion of God's propositional omniscience from a theistic point of view, I show that the strictly restricted account (SPO) – according to which God knows all true propositions that He can know – is preferable to the two other candidates as the standard interpretation of God's propositional omniscience. To establish this conclusion, I argue that Pruss's argument that strictly restricted omniscience (SPO) entails full omniscience (FPO) fails because it relies on a flawed construal of the former thesis. I propose an alternative construal for strictly restricted omniscience and defend it against some potential objections.

Type
Original Article
Information
Religious Studies , Volume 56 , Issue 4 , December 2020 , pp. 473 - 487
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abbruzzese, J. E. (1997) ‘The coherence of omniscience: a defense’, International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 34, 25–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Basinger, D. (1986) ‘Middle knowledge and classical Christian thought’, Religious Studies, 22, 407–422.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Byerly, T. R. (2014) ‘Restricted omniscience and ways of knowing’, Sophia, 53, 427–434.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Castañeda, H.-N. (1968) ‘On the logic of attributions of self-knowledge to others’, The Journal of Philosophy, 65, 439–456.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chisholm, R. M. (1976) Person and Object: A Metaphysical Study (La Salle IL: Open Court Publishing Company).Google Scholar
Geach, P. T. (1977) Providence and Evil (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).Google Scholar
Gettier, E. L. (1963) ‘Is justified true belief knowledge?’, Analysis, 23, 121–123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grim, P. (1983) ‘Some neglected problems of omniscience’, American Philosophical Quarterly, 20, 265–276.Google Scholar
Grim, P. (1985) ‘Against omniscience: the case from essential indexicals’, Noûs, 19, 151–180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grim, P. (2000) ‘The being that knew too much’, International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 47, 141–154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hanke, P. W. (2013) ‘First-person propositions’, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 86, 155–182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hasker, W. (1989) God, Time, and Knowledge (Ithaca NY: Cornell University Press).Google Scholar
Johnson, D. K. (2009) ‘God, fatalism, and temporal ontology’, Religious Studies, 45, 435–454.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kenny, A. (1979) The God of the Philosophers (Oxford: Clarendon Press).Google Scholar
Lembke, M. (2012) ‘Omnipotence and other possibilities’, Religious Studies, 48, 425–443.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, D. (1979) ‘Attitudes de dicto and de se’, The Philosophical Review, 88, 513–543.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lucas, J. R. (1989) The Future: An Essay on God, Temporality, and Truth (London: Blackwell).Google Scholar
Magidor, O. (2015) ‘The myth of the de se’, Philosophical Perspectives, 29, 249–283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Markie, P. J. (1988) ‘Multiple propositions and “de se” attitudes’, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 48, 573–600.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Millikan, R. G. (1990) ‘The myth of the essential indexical’, Noûs, 24, 723–734.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagasawa, Y. (2003) ‘Divine omniscience and knowledge de se’, International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 53, 73–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagasawa, Y. (2008) God and Phenomenal Consciousness: A Novel Approach to Knowledge Arguments (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perry, J. (1977) ‘Frege on demonstratives’, The Philosophical Review, 86, 474–497.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perry, J. (1979) ‘The problem of the essential indexical’, Noûs, 13, 3–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plantinga, A. (1967) God and Other Minds: A Study of Rational Justification of Belief in God (Ithaca NY: Cornell University Press).Google Scholar
Prior, A. N. (1962) ‘The formalities of omniscience’, Philosophy, 37, 114–129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pruss, A. R. (2011) ‘From Restricted to Full Omniscience’, Religious Studies, 47, 257–264.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Purtill, R. L. (1988) ‘Fatalism and the omnitemporality of truth’, Faith and Philosophy, 5, 185–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Runzo, J. (1981) ‘Omniscience and freedom for evil’, International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 12, 131–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swinburne, R. (2016) The Coherence of Theism, 2nd edn (Oxford: Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Torre, S. (2006) ‘De se knowledge and the possibility of an omniscient being’, Faith and Philosophy, 23, 191–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trakakis, N. (1997) ‘The absolutist theory of omnipotence’, Sophia, 36, 55–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Inwagen, P. (2008) ‘What does an omniscient being know about the future?’, in Kvanvig, J. L. (ed.) Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion, I (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 216–230.Google Scholar
Warfield, T. A. (1997) ‘Divine foreknowledge and human freedom are compatible’ Noûs, 31, 80–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wierenga, E. (1983) ‘Omnipotence defined’, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 43, 363–375.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zarepour, M. S. (2013) ‘Sunday school student and theological fatalism’, Sophia, 52, 553–555.CrossRefGoogle Scholar