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    The inference from necessary existence to omnipotence com... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→The properties of omnipotence, omniscience, simplicity, unity, and goodness may follow from the concept of a necessary being.

    The inference from necessary existence to omnipotence commits a category error: modal status concerns existence conditions, not causal power or epistemic scope.

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    1 reason for
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    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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    • 1.Modal properties (necessity, contingency) describe metaphysical status, not capacities. A necessary being's existence doesn't entail causal abilities.
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    • 2.Omnipotence concerns what one can do; necessary existence concerns why something exists. These answer different metaphysical questions.
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    • 3.A necessary mathematical object exists necessarily but has no causal powers, showing necessity alone doesn't ground omnipotence.
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    Reasons Against

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    Reason against
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    • 1.If a being is necessary and ultimate (requires nothing external), it must have maximal causal powers—otherwise it would depend on external causes.
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    • 2.Omniscience about all possibilities requires causal access to actualize them. A necessary, independent being plausibly has both simultaneously.
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    • 3.The category distinction assumes modal and causal properties are independent, but metaphysically fundamental beings may unify these properties.
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    Natural Theology1 linkedDivine Attributes1 linked

    Related

    A necessary mathematical object exists necessarily but has no causal powers, sho...If a being is necessary and ultimate (requires nothing external), it must have m...Modal properties (necessity, contingency) describe metaphysical status, not capa...Omnipotence concerns what one can do; necessary existence concerns why something...
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    Omniscience about all possibilities requires causal access to actualize them. A ...The category distinction assumes modal and causal properties are independent, bu...The properties of omnipotence, omniscience, simplicity, unity, and goodness may ...

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    2 (1 for, 1 against)
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