Philosophical Problems Raised by the Belief that God is Omnipotent
Oscar Nagy
Critically assess the philosophical problems raised by the belief that God is omnipotent
The statement “God is omnipotent” raises more issues and complexities the any other three-word sentence, not least due to the disagreement over what omnipotent actually means. A long side this, numerous contradictions, incoherencies and philosophical problems arise, all of which lead me to conclude that man’s traditional conception of God is simply an impossibility.
The traditional conception of God’s omnipotence is that God can do absolutely everything, including the logically impossible. Holding this view, God has the capability to do things that are logically contradictory, such as make square circles and make boxes he can’t lift and then lift them, and perform human actions such as swimming and committing suicide. This position is notoriously held by Descartes with his saying that we cannot lay down any limitations on God’s absolute power. He argues that God is above the laws of logic, as he is the creator of them and the lawmaker does not have to follow is own rules. If God had to conform to these laws then his omnipotence would be limited, which in itself is contradictory. God could have created different laws of logic if he wanted to, perhaps in another universe. If we consider a scenario where God had not created the laws of logic we consider to be absolutes, then we would have no qualm with God creating square circles (in theory, we could do so too). This remains even when God has created these laws because he is above them. However, this, for obvious reasons, opens up a Pandora’s box of logical problems and incoherencies. Things that are cannot also not be. Clearly, a circle cannot be square and to talk of such a thing is meaningless. If a shape were a square it would not be circular and if it were a circle it would not be square. Furthermore if God were to create such a thing, it would not be what we mean by a square circle but something in a private
Critically assess the philosophical problems raised by the belief that God is omnipotent
The statement “God is omnipotent” raises more issues and complexities the any other three-word sentence, not least due to the disagreement over what omnipotent actually means. A long side this, numerous contradictions, incoherencies and philosophical problems arise, all of which lead me to conclude that man’s traditional conception of God is simply an impossibility.
The traditional conception of God’s omnipotence is that God can do absolutely everything, including the logically impossible. Holding this view, God has the capability to do things that are logically contradictory, such as make square circles and make boxes he can’t lift and then lift them, and perform human actions such as swimming and committing suicide. This position is notoriously held by Descartes with his saying that we cannot lay down any limitations on God’s absolute power. He argues that God is above the laws of logic, as he is the creator of them and the lawmaker does not have to follow is own rules. If God had to conform to these laws then his omnipotence would be limited, which in itself is contradictory. God could have created different laws of logic if he wanted to, perhaps in another universe. If we consider a scenario where God had not created the laws of logic we consider to be absolutes, then we would have no qualm with God creating square circles (in theory, we could do so too). This remains even when God has created these laws because he is above them. However, this, for obvious reasons, opens up a Pandora’s box of logical problems and incoherencies. Things that are cannot also not be. Clearly, a circle cannot be square and to talk of such a thing is meaningless. If a shape were a square it would not be circular and if it were a circle it would not be square. Furthermore if God were to create such a thing, it would not be what we mean by a square circle but something in a private