Philosophy Now Forum

Philosophers have traditionally drawn a distinction between 'knowing how' and 'knowing that' and concentrated investigations epistemological on 'knowing that' Russel further classifying this as knowledge by acquaintance and knowledge by description. But I contend that there is only 'knowing how' Do...

...this formula approaches zero, no matter *what* p is - unless p is exactly 0. In other words, probabilistically, Adam and Eve had effectively no chance of avoiding succumbing to temptation *eventually*, unless they were wholly purified from evil to start with. Again, this hardly seems like a &quo...

'Do you think [your reaction to my role] might be, "Oh, it's OK, Harry, I absolve you of responsibility - after all, you didn't predestine your android, and it had genuine free will"? Or do you think it might be a little more like, "Harry, how could you, you perverse man!? You *knew*...

I'm not sure how you avoid a scalar moral landscape on your own view: surely a person, action, character, inclination or impulse might conform more or less to the character of God, and might distract, detract or diminish the supreme value in the universe -- relatedness to God -- more or less? Well,...

It seems to me that you have two responses to this line of reasoning open to you: Yes, that's the typical way the Euthryphro Dilemma is presented. However, as I've suggested, the either-or it posits is what we call a "false dichotomy." A third alternative not considered by Plato is availa...

No harm done, Harry. I'm sure I'll foul up something sooner or later.

Immanuel Can wrote: For example, it's widely believed that not only was satan cast out of heaven, but that a third of all angels were expelled with him, they apparently started a war with god, and subsequently were banished along with satan to be his demonic assistants. But in other texts concernin...

Emanuel, you stated in a previous post that there is no such thing as an evil act, and that what we call evil is simply an act that is lacking in goodness. I think this is the usual way a theist avoids considering that ether god is not all good, or that god is not all powerful, but either way it is...

3. Freedom. I provided (in this post) the analogy of a "free will android" which harmed your family in a very personal way, and I asked you what your response to such a thing would be. You asked me in a later post whether there was anything I would like you to go back to, and I indicated ...

2. The question and nature of evil. I explained as clearly as I could (in this post) why I believe that evil is not the mere absence of good: because good's mere absence could just as well lead to mere "neutrality" as to "evil". I even offered an example of a person who could be...

1. The goodness of God based on his basic nature. What I argued was that given your re-framing of God as "being" good rather than merely (as in the original Euthyphro Dilemma) "proclaiming" good, we might re-frame the Euthyphro question as "Is God good because we simply def...

Hello, Harry, and thank you, James. It's really a great pleasure to deal with such reflective and circumspect interlocutors. Now, Harry, as to our joint book... :D James is right, inasmuch as he sees we are hitting on some points repeatedly and persistently, yet without much progress: and while It s...

You did not respond to my elaborations on my argument that God's foreknowledge + creation entails at least *some* degree of creatorial responsibility for everything, including the free will decisions of His creatures, given that He foreknew them in advance, with the possibility of altering them bas...

Something like *that* I might accept as a process leading to "genuine" choice; there might be "genuine" freedom in that process. I would be utterly shocked and aghast if, following a process like that, anybody actually *did* choose hell, but if they did, it would be as genuine a...

I think it needs to be stated up-front that the "fact" of the choice being between "relationship with God" and "death, immorality, darkness, lies, etc" is one that a powerful Creator would have to take responsibility for. It need not be this way. There are certainly ot...