Omnipotent God- A logical contradiction?
Just some random musings....
Let us consider the assertion that God is omnipotent. So can God create a task that he himself cannot accomplish? If he can, then there exists a task which he cannot do. If no, there still remains a task which he cannot do.
Hence by definition, an Omnipotent God is a logical singularity. However (and here it gets interesting), it does not necessarily prove that God does not exist. It only leads further to two more options:
a) School of thought One [e.g. The Hindu Purva Mimansa School] - "Reasoning grasps reality completely. If something is a logical discontinuity, it is false and must be rejected. God is a discontinuity, and worse a singularity. We reject the existence of God. God does not exist. Those who abandon this logical strictness abandon reason. They can rationalize anything, right or wrong."
b) School of thought Two [e.g. The Hindu Uttara School] - Logic presumes a separation of subject from object. This again leads to two more subsets:
b.1) logic is wrong
b.2) separation is wrong
b.1) [eg: Hindu Dvaita schools] Separation of God and observer is real, therefore logic is not final wisdom. Logic is a human reconstruction of reality. It is not reality itself. Thus logically contradictory beliefs can be true at the same time.
b.2) [eg: Hindu Advaita schools] In this world, as the law of causality is real, logic too is real. The logical singularity can be overcome if the separation of subject and object is unreal and if the whole master set itself is singular in nature. Thus logic is real, so is the logical singularity. It is the separation which is unreal.
Moreover, all these problems of omnipotence, yet not able to do something come up when we deal god as a personal, different being. The statement "doing a task" presupposes a task to do (with its different initial and final states), a doer to do the task. Basically its demands a reality with multiple points. However, the other way to escape a logical singularity is when the whole set itself becomes one. When there is only one, there is no question of logical singularity.
Let us consider the assertion that God is omnipotent. So can God create a task that he himself cannot accomplish? If he can, then there exists a task which he cannot do. If no, there still remains a task which he cannot do.
Hence by definition, an Omnipotent God is a logical singularity. However (and here it gets interesting), it does not necessarily prove that God does not exist. It only leads further to two more options:
a) School of thought One [e.g. The Hindu Purva Mimansa School] - "Reasoning grasps reality completely. If something is a logical discontinuity, it is false and must be rejected. God is a discontinuity, and worse a singularity. We reject the existence of God. God does not exist. Those who abandon this logical strictness abandon reason. They can rationalize anything, right or wrong."
b) School of thought Two [e.g. The Hindu Uttara School] - Logic presumes a separation of subject from object. This again leads to two more subsets:
b.1) logic is wrong
b.2) separation is wrong
b.1) [eg: Hindu Dvaita schools] Separation of God and observer is real, therefore logic is not final wisdom. Logic is a human reconstruction of reality. It is not reality itself. Thus logically contradictory beliefs can be true at the same time.
b.2) [eg: Hindu Advaita schools] In this world, as the law of causality is real, logic too is real. The logical singularity can be overcome if the separation of subject and object is unreal and if the whole master set itself is singular in nature. Thus logic is real, so is the logical singularity. It is the separation which is unreal.
Moreover, all these problems of omnipotence, yet not able to do something come up when we deal god as a personal, different being. The statement "doing a task" presupposes a task to do (with its different initial and final states), a doer to do the task. Basically its demands a reality with multiple points. However, the other way to escape a logical singularity is when the whole set itself becomes one. When there is only one, there is no question of logical singularity.
posted by S at 12:02 PM
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