RE: Using the arguments against actual infinites against theists
May 11, 2014 at 12:45 am
(This post was last modified: May 11, 2014 at 12:50 am by Freedom of thought.)
(May 10, 2014 at 1:37 am)MindForgedManacle Wrote:(May 10, 2014 at 1:25 am)Freedom of thought Wrote: I will first start off by pointing out that since god is omniscience, he would know absolutely everything, so this means he would have to have infinite knowledge.
Only if you think God's knowledge is propositional, I think. Further, apologists often distinguish a qualitative infinity from a quantitative one. They might say something like God is omnipotent/infinitely powerful because there is no possible world where he or any other being has power greater than he does.
Quote:We know from quantum physics that there are essentially an infinite amount of possibilities. With the many world interpretation of quantum mechanics for example, there is an infinite amount of possible states which are all actualized. So, if god existed, he would have to know all of these infinite states to be omniscient, thus god's knowledge would have to be infinite.
Under MWI, there are an unlimited amount of universes, not an infinite amount.
Quote:So the next time a theist tries to point out that infinites cannot be actualized, say they are cutting off the branch they are sitting on. Well, if infinities can't exist, then god can't be infinitely powerful or have infinite knowledge.
I agree what you're trying to get at, just not your examples.
Oh, and a mathematician I know has a book on this. Just search for "Dot Dot Dot: Infinity and God" on Amazon (that's not te exact title). It's pretty interesting.
You said pretty much what my examples were trying to point out.
"We know from quantum physics that there are essentially an infinite amount of possibilities. With the many world interpretation of quantum mechanics for example, there is an infinite amount of possible states which are all actualized."
If the many worlds interpretation is correct, all possible states will be continually actualized into the future, since there are infinite possible configurations of the universe that would mean an infinite amount of different states. But if you continue this process into infinity all states will be actualized; That is only if the many worlds interpretation is correct I'm pretty sure. But what we do know for sure is that there is definitely an infinite amount of 'possible' states from physics. If god is all knowing, he must know all the possible states in order to be omniscient, but that doesn't mean all states are actualized.
