The Problem of Divine Foreknowledge and Future Contingents from Aristotle to Suarez

The Greek problem of fatalism, as it is set out, for example, in Aristotle's De interpretatione 9, posed an especially significant challenge to Christian thinkers, committed as they were to the biblical doctrine of Divine Foreknowledge. For them, the problem took the form of a sort of theological fa...

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Détails bibliographiques
Auteur:William Lane Craig
Publié: E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1988
Collection:Brill's Studies in Intellectual History
Volume:7
Pages Totales:XIII-295
Format:Book
Sujet:- Doctrine > Dieu. Trinité > Dieu > Prescience
- Doctrine > Dieu. Trinité > Dieu > Providence > Providence
- Doctrine > Dieu. Trinité > Dieu > Providence > Fatalisme - fatalité
Statut:Active
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Résumé:The Greek problem of fatalism, as it is set out, for example, in Aristotle's De interpretatione 9, posed an especially significant challenge to Christian thinkers, committed as they were to the biblical doctrine of Divine Foreknowledge. For them, the problem took the form of a sort of theological fatalism, which became all the more difficult in light of the fact that Aristotle's solution-a denial that contingent statements about the future can be true or false-was not open to them. From Augustine to uarez, different thinkers proposed various solutions to the problem: for instance, that human beings mus of necessity have freedom of action, that God by standing outside time has knowledge of acts, which still lie in the future as far as we are concerned, and that God has knowledge of all posible causes of action open to human free-will prior to decreeing a definite world-order. The present work attempts to examine carefully and sympathetically the vieuws of Aristotle and seven Christian thinkers, whose responses may lay the founda&tion for fruitful contemporary debate.