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Single Idea 21252

[filed under theme 28. God / A. Divine Nature / 4. Divine Contradictions ]

Full Idea

If two propositions (about perfections) are incompatible, that cannot be demonstrated without a resolution of the terms, for otherwise their nature would not enter into the ratiocination.

Gist of Idea

Perfections must have overlapping parts if their incompatibility is to be proved

Source

Gottfried Leibniz (New Essays on Human Understanding [1704], App X)

Book Ref

'The Existence of God', ed/tr. Hick,John [Macmillan 1964], p.38

A Reaction

If God is omnipotent and wholly free, these appear to be fully separate perfections. But it is their implications (can God decide to do otherwise, given His foreknowledge?) which lead to a problem. So this analyis of contradiction is wrong.

Related Idea

Idea 1414 A perfection is a simple quality, which is positive and absolute, and has no limit [Leibniz]

The 17 ideas with the same theme [contradictions in our concept of a supreme being]:

1719 In Empedocles' theory God is ignorant because, unlike humans, he doesn't know one of the elements (strife) [Aristotle on Empedocles]
2630 If Plato's God is immaterial, he will lack consciousness, wisdom, pleasure and movement, which are essential to him [Cicero on Plato]
2645 Why shouldn't the gods fear their own destruction? [Cicero]
16651 God can do anything non-contradictory, as making straightness with no line, or lightness with no parts [Auriol]
6224 An omnipotent will cannot make two things equal or alike if they aren't [Cudworth]
21252 Perfections must have overlapping parts if their incompatibility is to be proved [Leibniz]
2920 A God who cures us of a head cold at the right moment is a total absurdity [Nietzsche]
18978 It is hard to grasp a cosmic mind which produces such a mixture of goods and evils [James]
5208 A person with non-empirical attributes is unintelligible. [Ayer]
3459 You can only know the limits of knowledge if you know the other side of the limit [Searle]
8055 If God is omniscient, he confronts no as yet unmade decisions, so decisions are impossible [MacIntyre]
7602 In the Bible God changes his mind (repenting of creating humanity, in the Flood) [Armstrong,K]
16427 Presumably God can do anything which is logically possible [Chalmers]
10332 Omniscience is incoherent, since knowledge is a social concept [Kusch]
9122 God cannot experience unwanted pain, so God cannot understand human beings [Sorensen]
3874 How could God know there wasn't an unknown force controlling his 'free' will? [PG]
3873 An omniscient being couldn't know it was omniscient, as that requires information from beyond its scope of knowledge [PG]