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    On the B-theory too, there is reason to worry about the c... — Carmelics
    Home/Afterlife & Death
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    On the B-theory too, there is reason to worry about the combination of omniscience with timelessness.

    Afterlife & Death
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.If a B-theoretic subject S knows what time it is at more than one time, then they undergo changes.
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    • 2.If God's temporal nature relevantly resembles our own, then God would also need to undergo such changes to maintain omniscience.
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    • 3.Timelessness is incompatible with undergoing changes.
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.A timeless being can know all tenseless B-series facts (e.g., 'event E is at t₁') without knowing indexical 'what time is it now' facts.
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    • 2.Omniscience need only require knowledge of all true propositions, and on B-theory, tensed indexical propositions reduce to tenseless ones.
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    • 3.Therefore, a timeless God on B-theory faces no knowledge gap requiring temporal change, since no genuinely irreducible 'now'-facts exist.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
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    • 1.Eleonore Stump and Norman Kretzmann's ET-simultaneity framework allows a timeless being to be present to every moment without existing within time.
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    • 2.If timeless eternity is ET-simultaneous with every temporal moment, God's omniscient grasp of each moment requires no successive change in God.
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    • 3.The inference from 'knowing what time it is at multiple times' to 'undergoing change' only applies to beings whose mode of presence is itself temporal.
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    Afterlife & Death

    Related

    A timeless being can know all tenseless B-series facts (e.g., 'event E is at t₁'...Eleonore Stump and Norman Kretzmann's ET-simultaneity framework allows a timeles...If God's temporal nature relevantly resembles our own, then God would also need ...If a B-theoretic subject knows what time it is at more than one time, they under...
    +5 moreShow less
    If timeless eternity is ET-simultaneous with every temporal moment, God's omnisc...Omniscience need only require knowledge of all true propositions, and on B-theor...The inference from 'knowing what time it is at multiple times' to 'undergoing ch...Therefore, a timeless God on B-theory faces no knowledge gap requiring temporal ...Timelessness is incompatible with undergoing changes.

    Similar

    If God's temporal nature relevantly resembles our own, then God would ...77%The view that God has both a timeless phase and a temporal phase is lo...74%Temporal existence is a less perfect mode of existence than timeless e...73%God is omniscient, so God forgets no part of the past and already know...73%

    Source

    AI-extracted
    SEP: eternity
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    Therefore, if a B-theoretic subject S knows (at more than one time) what time it is, then they undergo changes. The reason is that how they believe what they believe changes. They need to keep track of their temporal perspective by having appropriately varied tensed beliefs (“it’s noon”, “it’s 12:01”). At least this is so for anyone whose temporal nature relevantly resembles our own. Does this group include God? If so, then on the B-theory too, there is reason to worry about the combination of omniscience with timelessness.

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit