PHILOSOPHY - Religion: Classical Theism 4 (God's Omniscience)

What does it mean to say God *knows* things? This video examines two answers to that question. Theistic personalists hold that God knows things in the same sense in which we know things: by observing them. Classical Theists deny this account and hold rather that God knows things by causing their existence.

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[zachringer]

I feel God’s simplicity is that he knows the compressed version of all he does know. He knows how he thinks and can tell the wisest universe level truths based on all knowledge compressed into his simplicity.

[Thetarget]

How would a classical theist respond to the concept of quantum uncertainty?

For example if we take an electron it has a spin which only has a defined length and a defined projection onto a quantisation axis. The quantisation axis is chosen arbitrarily by an experimenter. Before the experimenter makes an observation the spin wavefunction is in a superposition of the different projections, but the observation collapses this superposition. Bell's inequality forbids an underlying hidden variable which defines the spin before an observation.

So the spin projection simply doesn't exist before an observation is performed under an experiment. Thus God cannot know it. Yet he has to know it after the experiment is performed. But this knowledge is first created by the performance of the experiment, so it must be observational even for an omniscient god.

[GrimSqueaker]

so classical theism negates freewill then?

[troyhayder]

If God is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent...

Then not only did he know what diddling baby jesus would feel like, not only did he have the power to stop it, but he was inside him...

And because jesus is the father the same is true in reverse...

Badum.. Cha...

[fen]

What about a God who creates unwittingly.

[persona]

god is unable to learn anything, cannot observe, experiment, question, trust, collect data, etc, etc, etc. sounds like someone dead to me. the same thing happens with OMNIPRESENCE can't move, leave, arrive and on and on, very limited indeed that contradicts his all-mightiness.
so, nope not today professor.

[cosmicatrophy]

This channel has some interesting stuff but I'm starting to realize that it's full of pseudo intellectual babble like this. This sort of thing is interesting here and there but ultimately this is like arguing hypothetical super hero fights.

[GrimSqueaker]

so classical theism negates freewill then?