Re: MR: Disc: Omnipotance

[edh@ascc01.ascc.lucent.com]

Poster: edh@ascc01.ascc.lucent.com

> Omniscience is an incidental byproduct of omnipotence. If one is
> all-powerful, then amongst one's powers is omniscience.
>
> It's the same kind of semantic redundancy that Father Guido Sarducci
> pointed out in the phrase "forever and ever".

I've been thinking about this, in the back of my mind, for a while now,
and I've decided that my initial response wasn't thought through clearly.
I wish to try again.

I think that confusion arises from thinking of omniscience as a power
or ability; it is actually a description of an on-going action.
To illustrate, consider replacing the verb "to know" (scire) with
the verb "to drink" (potare).  Certainly a being who is all-powerful
is _able_ to drink everything, from the quintessence of the planet Saturn
(which we all know is lighter than water) to the densest adamantine.
But that does not _necessarily_ mean that the Being currently _is_ drinking
everything.

"With God all things are potable"
   is NOT the same thing as
"All the world is drunk by God"

Unless you add an additional premise: "anything which is not forbidden
is complusory", but I'm not prepared to accept that as an axiom.

-- Alfredo



=======================================================================
List Archives, FAQ, FTP:  http://sca.wayfarer.org/merryrose/
            Submissions:  atlantia@atlantia.sca.org
        Admin. requests:  majordomo@atlantia.sca.org