Handout 3 - The Dilemma of Freedom and Foreknowledge

Two Central Claims of the Western Theistic Religions:

Divine Foreknowledge:
God knows everything anyone does long before he or she does it.

Human Freedom:
Human beings have free will.

The Dilemma of Freedom and Foreknowledge is that Divine Foreknowledge is apparently incompatible with Human Freedom.

 

Five Principles for the Main Argument:

Knowledge Entails Truth (KET):
Necessarily, if someone knows that a person S will perform action A at time t, then S performs A at t.

Slogan: "If you know something, then it must be true."

Divine Foreknowledge of Action (DFA):
Necessarily, if S performs A at t, then at every time prior to t, God knows at that time that S will perform A at t.

Slogan: "God knows everything will you do long before you do it."

The Fixity of the Past (FP):
Necessarily, if event E occurs at time t, then after t it is not within anyone’s power to prevent E’s occurrence at t.

Slogan: "You can’t change the past."

Transfer of Powerlessness (TP):
Necessarily, if (i) it is not within S’s power to prevent E from occurring at t1 and (ii) E’s occurrence at t1 entails that S does A at t2, then it is not with S’s power to avoid doing A at t2.

Slogan: "If something out of your control guarantees that you will behave in a certain way, then you can’t refrain from behaving in that way."

Power to Do Otherwise (PDO):
Necessarily, if it is not within S’s power to avoid doing A at t, then S does not do A freely.

Slogan: "Freedom requires the ability to do otherwise."

 

The Main Argument:

1. I clap my hands at noon today.

supposition

2. Necessarily, if I clap my hands at noon today, then God knew in 1000 A.D. that I would clap my hands at noon today.

instance of (DFA), Divine Foreknowledge of Action

3. If God knew in 1000 A.D. that I would clap my hands at noon today, then it is not within my power to prevent God's knowing in 1000 A.D. that I would clap my hands at noon today.

instance of (FP), the Fixity of the Past

4. Therefore, it is not within my power to prevent God's knowing in 1000 A.D. that I would clap my hands at noon today.

from lines (2), (3) and (4) by Multiple Modus Ponens

5. God's knowing in 1000 A.D. that I would clap my hands at noon today entails that I my clap my hands today at noon.

instance of (KET), Knowledge Entails Truth

6. If (4) and (5), then it is not within my power to avoid clapping my hands at noon today.

instance of (TP), Transfer of Powerlessness

7. If it is not within my power to avoid clapping my hands at noon today, then I did not clap my hands freely.

instance of (FRP)

8. Therefore, I did not clap my hands freely.

A More General and Less Formal Way to Put the Argument

1. God knows everything anyone ever does long before they do it.  (DF)
2. No one can change the past.  (FP)
3. Therefore, no one can change the fact that God knows everything anyone ever does long before they do it.  (from 1 and 2)
4. God’s knowing what you do entails that you do it.  (KET)
5. If no one can change the fact that God knows everything they will do long before they do it and His knowing entails your doing it, then no one can refrain from doing what they actually do.  (TP)
6. If no one can refrain from doing what they actually do, then no one is free.  (FRP)
7. Therefore, no one is free.  (from 3, 4, 5, and 6)