Hostname: page-component-54dcc4c588-64p75 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-04T15:10:17.729Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Giving up omnipotence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Scott Hill
Scott Hill*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, University of Massachusetts, 352 Bartlett Hall, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
*
*Email: sahil0@philos.umass.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

For any essential property God has, there is an ability He does not have. He is unable to bring about any state of affairs in which He does not have that property. Such inabilities seem to preclude omnipotence. After making trouble for the standard responses to this problem, I offer my own solution: God is not omnipotent. This may seem like a significant loss for the theist. But I show that it is not. The theist may abandon the doctrine that God is omnipotent without scaling back the extent of His power and without denying that He has all perfections.

Keywords

abilityimpossible states of affairsperfectiontraditionalismrevisionism

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Philosophy , Volume 44 , Issue 1 , February 2014 , pp. 97 - 117
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Journal of Philosophy 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Aquinas, St. Thomas. 1921 [1274]. The summa theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas. 2nd ed. Trans. Fathers of the English Dominican Province. London: Burns Oates & Washbourne.Google Scholar
Feldman, Fred. 1986. A Cartesian Introduction to Philosophy. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Flint, Thomas, and Freddoso, Alfred. 1983. “Maximal Power.” In The Existence and Nature of God, edited by Freddoso, Alfred. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.Google Scholar
Frankfurt, Harry. 1964. “The Logic of Omnipotence.” Philosophical Review 73: 262–263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geach, Peter. 1973. “Omnipotence.” Philosophy 48: 7–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill, Daniel. 2005. Divinity and Maximal Greatness. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Hoffman, Joshua, and Rosenkrantz, Gary. 1988. “Omnipotence Redux.” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 49: 283–301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoffman, Joshua, and Rosenkrantz, Gary. 2012. “Omnipotence.” In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2012 Edition), edited by Zalta, Edward N.. http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2012/entries/omnipotence/.Google Scholar
Howard Sobel, Jordan. 2004. Logic and Theism: Arguments for and Against Beliefs in God. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kraay, Klaas. 2011. “Theism and Modal Collapse.” American Philosophical Quarterly 48: 361–372.Google Scholar
Leftow, Brian. 2009. “Omnipotence.” In The Oxford Handbook of Philosophical Theology, edited by Flint, Thomas and Rea, Michael, 167–198. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leftow, Brian. 2012. God and Necessity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, David. 1981. “Are We Free to Break the Laws?” Theoria 47: 113–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maier, John. 2011. “Abilities.” In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Zalta, Edward N.. http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2011/entries/abilities/.Google Scholar
Morriston, Wes. 2002. “Omnipotence and the Power to Choose: A Reply to Wielenberg.” Faith and Philosophy 19: 358–367.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagasawa, Yujin. 2008. God and Phenomenal Consciousness: A Novel Approach to Knowledge Arguments. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oppy, Graham. 2005. “Omnipotence.” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 71: 58–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearce, Kenneth. 2011. “Omnipotence.” In The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Fieser, James and Dowden, Bradly. http://www.iep.utm.edu/omnipote/.Google Scholar
Pearce, Kenneth, and Pruss, Alexander. 2012. “Understanding Omnipotence.” Religious Studies 48: 403–414.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pike, Nelson. 1969. “Omnipotence and God’s Ability to Sin.” American Philosophical Quarterly 6: 208–216.Google Scholar
Plantinga, Alvin. 1967. God and Other Minds. New York: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Plantinga, Alvin. 1974. The Nature of Necessity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
van Inwagen, Peter. 1983. An Essay on Free Will. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
van Inwagen, Peter. 2006. The Problem of Evil. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wielenberg, Erik. 2000. “Omnipotence Again.” Faith and Philosophy 17: 26–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wierenga, Edward. 1989. The Nature of God: An Inquiry into Divine Attributes. Cornell University Press.Google Scholar