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    Middle knowledge is logically prior to God's creative dec... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→There is a dilemma for anyone who wants to maintain both that there is a deity who infallibly knows the entire future and that human beings have libertarian free will.

    Middle knowledge is logically prior to God's creative decree, so foreknowledge tracks free choices rather than determining them.

    ?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.If God's knowledge causally determined choices, those choices wouldn't be free—they'd be necessitated by prior divine knowledge, violating libertarian freedom.
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    • 2.Middle knowledge allows God to know counterfactuals about free creatures without creating them, preserving both omniscience and genuine agent autonomy.
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    • 3.Logical priority explains how foreknowledge can be comprehensive yet non-coercive: God knows what free agents would choose before deciding to actualize that world.
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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Middle knowledge's claim that God knows counterfactuals independent of His will is unclear—what grounds such knowledge if not God's decree or nature?
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    • 2.Even if foreknowledge doesn't causally determine choices, knowing with certainty what someone will freely choose seems incompatible with their genuine contingency.
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    • 3.The logical priority distinction collapses under scrutiny: if God's knowledge is infallible, the future is settled regardless of the ordering of logical operations.
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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

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    Free Will & Foreknowledge1 linked

    Related

    Even if foreknowledge doesn't causally determine choices, knowing with certainty...If God's knowledge causally determined choices, those choices wouldn't be free—t...Logical priority explains how foreknowledge can be comprehensive yet non-coerciv...Middle knowledge allows God to know counterfactuals about free creatures without...
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    Middle knowledge's claim that God knows counterfactuals independent of His will ...The logical priority distinction collapses under scrutiny: if God's knowledge is...There is a dilemma for anyone who wants to maintain both that there is a deity w...

    Details

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