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    If middle knowledge successfully explains foreknowledge w... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→Causal dependence is the best model for understanding how God can foreknow what you will do because you will do it.

    If middle knowledge successfully explains foreknowledge without causal dependence, causal dependence cannot be established as the uniquely best model.

    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    1 reason against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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    • 1.Middle knowledge provides a logically coherent model where God knows all possibilities without determining outcomes, unlike causal models.
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    • 2.If multiple explanatory models are equally successful, parsimony doesn't favor the one requiring causal chains through time.
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    • 3.Causal dependence creates logical problems (infinite regress, fatalism) that middle knowledge avoids, suggesting it's not uniquely superior.
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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
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    • 1.Middle knowledge's explanatory success is contested; many philosophers argue it merely relocates rather than solves the foreknowledge problem.
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    • 2.Causal models better explain how divine knowledge relates to the actual world we inhabit, not merely possible worlds.
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    • 3.Being 'uniquely best' requires explaining not just foreknowledge but divine agency, intentionality, and providence—where causation excels.
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    Key Terms

    knowledge(Distinguished from mere true belief, which may be the product of indoctrination and need not exercise deliberative capacities.)
    Justified true belief — true belief that has been arrived at through the exercise of deliberative capacities, including comparison of and deliberation among alternatives.

    Connections

    1 topic

    Free Will & Foreknowledge1 linked

    Related

    Being 'uniquely best' requires explaining not just foreknowledge but divine agen...Causal dependence creates logical problems (infinite regress, fatalism) that mid...Causal dependence is the best model for understanding how God can foreknow what ...Causal models better explain how divine knowledge relates to the actual world we...
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    If multiple explanatory models are equally successful, parsimony doesn't favor t...Middle knowledge provides a logically coherent model where God knows all possibi...Middle knowledge's explanatory success is contested; many philosophers argue it ...

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    2 (1 for, 1 against)
    Edits
    1 edit