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    Pairs of coexistent God-like omnipotent agents are imposs... — Carmelics
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    Pairs of coexistent God-like omnipotent agents are impossible.

    Divine Attributes
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    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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    • 1.For any possible pair of coexistent God-like omnipotent agents, one member of that pair could endeavor to actualize a different, equally good, world than the other member, even given their hypothesized necessary epistemic, moral, and aesthetic perfection.
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    • 2.A reductio ad absurdum has been presented showing that such a scenario leads to contradiction.
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
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    • 1.Perfect rational agents facing equally good options may be subject to Buridan's Ass indeterminacy, rendering neither agent capable of acting at all.
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    • 2.If neither omnipotent agent can actualize any world due to symmetric indifference, no contradiction between their wills arises, and coexistence remains logically coherent.
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    • 3.Leibniz's principle of sufficient reason, applied to perfectly rational agents, entails convergence on identical choices rather than divergence, dissolving the reductio.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
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    • 1.Richard Swinburne argues that omnipotence is best understood as the power to do anything logically possible for a being of one's nature, not absolute maximal power.
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    • 2.Under this conditional construal, two omnipotent agents could have mutually consistent domains of sovereign action, as Aquinas allowed for ordained versus absolute power distinctions.
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    • 3.If omnipotence is domain-relative or conditionally scoped, the reductio presupposes an absolute conception that is neither the only nor the most defensible account of divine power.
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    Related

    A reductio ad absurdum has been presented showing that such a scenario leads to ...For any possible pair of coexistent God-like omnipotent agents, one member of th...If neither omnipotent agent can actualize any world due to symmetric indifferenc...If omnipotence is domain-relative or conditionally scoped, the reductio presuppo...
    +4 moreShow less
    Leibniz's principle of sufficient reason, applied to perfectly rational agents, ...Perfect rational agents facing equally good options may be subject to Buridan's ...Richard Swinburne argues that omnipotence is best understood as the power to do ...Under this conditional construal, two omnipotent agents could have mutually cons...

    Similar

    A plurality of coexistent omnipotent agents is impossible.94%There could not be two coexistent omnipotent agents.91%This reduces the notion of a plurality of coexistent omnipotent agents...85%For any possible pair of coexistent God-like omnipotent agents, one me...84%

    Source

    AI-extracted
    SEP: omnipotence
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    In the light of the foregoing, is it possible that there be a plurality of coexistent omnipotent agents? Among contemporary philosophers of religion, Richard Swinburne (2008) holds that a plurality of coexistent omnipotent agents is possible.

    Details

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