The Dilemma of Freedom and Foreknowledge

ISBN-13: 9780195107630 / Angielski / Miękka / 1996 / 224 str.

Linda Trinkaus Zagzebski

Opis

This original analysis examines the three leading traditional solutions to the dilemma of divine foreknowledge and human free will--those arising from Boethius, from Ockham, and from Molina. Though all three solutions are rejected in their best-known forms, three new solutions are proposed, and Zagzebski concludes that divine foreknowledge is compatible with human freedom. The discussion includes the relation between the foreknowledge dilemma and problems about the nature of time and the causal relation; the logic of counterfactual conditionals; and the differences between divine and human knowing states. An appendix introduces a new foreknowledge dilemma that purports to show that omniscient foreknowledge conflicts with deep intuitions about temporal asymmetry, quite apart from considerations of free will. Zagzebski shows that only a narrow range of solutions can handle this new dilemma. A compelling contribution to the field, The Dilemma of Freedom and Foreknowledge will appeal to students and scholars of theistic philosophy and the philosophy of religion.

Recenzje

This work is a welcome addition. It is one of the two or three best book-length treatments of the subject of the past two decades and is especially useful as an introduction to the recent literature ... Zagzebski's interpretations and criticisms of various theories are sometimes controversial, but always stimulating ... it is an interesting work, informative and thought-provoking, and is highly recommended to those who want to familiarize themselves with the latest work on this perennially fascinating topic.