(November 17, 2013 at 4:17 am)max-greece Wrote: A few questions:
1. Isn't it possible for an omniscient God to be certain that there are no unknowns of any kind in a universe he supposedly built?
Maybe. But one must remember to distinguish between 'universe' and 'all that exists'. But my point isn't that there are definitely unknown unknowns, but that even if there aren't, even God couldn't know it.
Quote:2. If there are unknowns to God they would have to be known unknowns but couldn't they fall into the category of unknowable.
No. God couldn't rule out unknown unknowns because whether or not they exist, claiming to know you don't have them results in making a contradictory claim. And since the claim itself is also unjustifiable, it couldn't be knowledge.
So God doesn't know at least one thing: what (if any) are ,my unknown unknowns? This shields any attempt (for anyone) from knowing everything.
Quote:3. If you define Omniscience as all possible knowledge then item 2 above is not contradictory to this statement - with emphasis on the possible element.
But it is. UUs are not inherently or necessarily impossible to know. While you cannot know whether or not your current unknown unknowns are possible to know, you can't know if tey aren't. You can make an inductive case that what used to be your unknown unknowns were knowable, because they are no longer unknown to you.
Quote:As you are aware by now I am not a philosopher so these may not be the right questions.
It's fine. The terminology is a little confusing.
