Molina's middle knowledge presupposes that counterfactuals of creaturely freedom have determinate truth values independent of God's will, yet no coherent non-circular grounding for such truths has been identified.
?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
No one has weighed in yet. Be the first to share reasons for or against this statement.
Sign in or register to share your perspective on this statement.
(Core component of Molinism, as described in Marsh's reply to Maitzen)
God's knowledge of what free creatures would freely do in counterfactual situations
Molina(as a philosopher's name)
Luis de Molina was a Spanish philosopher and theologian from the 1500s who tried to solve a big puzzle: how can God know the future if humans have free choice?
Non-circular(what any valid analysis must be)
A way of explaining or proving something that doesn't rely on the thing itself as evidence; it avoids going in circles logically.
Presupposes(as describing what Plantinga's argument takes for granted)
Assumes something to be true without proving it—like how an argument might presuppose that logic works, without first arguing that logic is valid.
counterfactuals(as used in logic and philosophy of free will (related to 'subjunctives of freedom'))
Statements about what *would* happen in situations that aren't actually happening—'if I had studied harder, I would have passed the test' is a counterfactual about a situation that didn't occur.
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.