Andrew Tatafu

Philosophy Essay
I find the issue of divine foreknowledge and human freedom to be important for the fact that humans consider themselves to be able to make choices of their own according to their daily lives. Meaning not just once so often do humans get an opportunity to make choices but several times a day. Another reason this subject is important to me is that the belief that God has a part in our lives is a world wide belief that is frequent in most Christianity religions. Most all humans consider the idea of a greater being and how that being could possibly be affecting their lives at that very instant. I will argue for the case in which divine foreknowledge and human freedom are compatible. In this paper I will be going over the concept of divine foreknowledge. First defining what it means and how it is used. I will then go over the concept of human freedom by first defying its meaning and then how it is used. To begin tying these tow beliefs that seem to be incompatible together, I will start by defining the basic structure of the main problem for these two to be attuned. From there I will use a Aristotelian Solution to prove that it is possible to combine the two ideas. I then will structure a argument against this view using a fatalist view that states we are powerless to do anything other than we actually do. I will then reestablish my belief in Aristotles theory using his story of the battleships. I then will go into the Boetheian Solution to prove that divine foreknowledge and freedom are compatible in more than just one perspective. From this point I will state an opposing argument against Boethiuss view to solidify my belief. I will defend Boethiuss views using examples of timelessness of God and human free will. I will then conclude my reasoning for the stance that I have taken on this subject and why

this stance is my preference to side with. I will conclude as well how these views are open to bought sides of this debate. I will start by explain what divine foreknowledge is. Divine foreknowledge begins with the idea that God is a omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient being. These phrases mean that God is a all powerful (omnipotent), is everywhere (omnipresent) and that God is all knowing (omniscient). With these abilities God would then know all that is everything about the past and all that is everything about eh future. This statement is where divine foreknowledge is based from. Divine meaning God and foreknowledge meaning knowledge of the future. Next I will describe what free will is. To do so I will define that idea of being free. To be free is to have no restrictions from any exterior or interior forces. For an example if a person were suck in a room with no doors to get out, the walls are external objects restricting this person from leaving. My next example of an interior force would be something along the lines of laws of justice. There are judicial laws that restrict humans from doing many things. One basic example would be traffic lights. If someone were driving down the road and the light ahead changed to red there would be a interior force compelling this person to stop their car. So to be free would to be released from these types of restrictions. Now I will define the idea of the will. The will is based off of the idea that humans have the ability to desire. These desires are the base components of the human dreams and aspirations. Desires compel humans to have wants not just needs. Now I combine these two definitions into one idea and it creates the human free will. From this information I define free will as having no restrictions from obtaining ones desires. I now will compose an example using this definition. Say someone is compelled by their desires to loose weight and get into shape. As long as there is

not some outside force physically restricting this persons movement and at the same time is cramming fattening food down their throat. This person is free to obtain their desires. Now there is a chance that there are interior road blocks, such as an eating disorder or depression. As long as these issues are non existent then this person would be free from restrictions to obtain ones desires of will. Now that I have gone over the definitions and examples of divine foreknowledge and free will I will present the most basic problem of attempting to combine these two ideas into one belief. To start I examine the idea that God is omniscient, knowing everything there is to know about the past and there for everything about eh future. This statement addresses the question if God already knows the future then how can a person make choices of their own free will? Can this person make a choice at all if God has already predetermined the outcome? For most people that come across scenario they would reluctantly say we are not free. That we are already set on a path that only God knows. Regardless, there are many philosophers that create very compelling arguments that claim humans can still be free and also believe in divine foreknowledge. I will first use the Aristotelian Solution to solve this issue. This solution was based off the great philosopher Aristotles teachings. Aristotle first addressed the idea of God knowing the future. He claims that the further is an undetermined subject. Therefore Aristotle also believed that Gods ability to know everything is actually limited to knowing all that has happened. For if something has not happened yet this occurrence is not a thing yet. With this information being applied to the concept of Omnicents. God will still know everything up to the present time. From this concept he gives a way to dismiss Gods power of predicting the future and in turn allowing the possibility of mankind of still having the ability to make choices of their own free desires.

The next point of view I will use is the Boethian solution. I take this stance to prove that there are more then just one point of view that combines divine foreknowledge and human freedom into one belief. This solution is created and refined by the philosopher Boethius him self and many others that have come after him. This view refers back to the main problem that yesterday god knew what you would do tomorrow. Boethius states that god can not exist yesterday to know anything about tomorrow. The reasoning for this statement is that he describes god to be a non-physical being. With this being the case this reality consists of physical substances so for god to still exist Boethius describes god to be outside of time. This being so god is not an object restricted to the tide of the always changing present. This explains why god was not hear yesterday to claim any divinity about tomorrow. Now with this structure god exists and is a part in all time and threw out the universe but is not bound to the presence. For example think of god standing over a table looking down on this table. This table is a concept of what time and existence is to humans. On one end of the table marked as the beginning of time and the other side of the table marked as the end of time. We are caught in the present which is constantly moving across the table. With this theory of divine foreknowledge it takes god out side of the every day life of humans. Leaving open the ability of choice in following desires of freedom. And still holding a belief in the divine.