Other Writing

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By Martin Gerwin, St John's College, University of Manitoba, June 2003 

ABSTRACT:

The problem of the apparent incompatibility of divine omniscience and human free will seems most pressing when it is assumed that God is sempiternal, rather than atemporal, and essentially omniscient. William Alston suggests that God's knowledge is direct, intuitive awareness - not a species of belief - and claims that such a conception of divine knowledge provides a means of resolving its apparent incompatibility  with free will. It is here argued that even if we accept Alston's proposal, the classic problem reappears, and that the least objectionable response is to abandon the traditional doctrine of essential omniscience. Necessary omniscience may nevertheless be attributed to God in a sense of 'necessary' which is related to the powers of agents.