In a message dated 2/2/2016 5:08:54 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:
But does Speranza know whether this all-powerful God/god can do an act
they cannot undo? D
(Logician to the gods) L
Again, some are confusing Speranza with Kenny -- A. J. P. Kenny that is, a
Liverpudlian. The 'd' in Liverpudlian is a confusion of 'poodle' with
'pool'. Liverpudlians never call theirselves Liverpudlians. Of course Kenny
hails from Ireland originally, hence his name -- the ending -ny is very Irish.
Kenny does pose the question in his formalisation of omnipotence whether
God can change water into wine, say. A student remark: "Aren't some varieties
of Californian wine mere wishy-washy water, anyway?". Kenny found the
remark sacrilegous.
Kenny, who had written a booklet on Witters, was well prepared. Let "p &
~p" symbolise a logical impossibility. Can God make it that "p & ~p" obtain?"
He said that on a Friday. And remarked, rather sacrilegiously, "The answer,
next week." He knew most students travelled to London for the weekend and
would perhaps forget about the question at all. They didn't.
All these details are not so obvious when you read the book, since he
edited it into a rather theological treatise into what God can and cannot do --
with an emphasis on the conceptual analysis of 'can'.
McEvoy's question, which Kenny will think sacrilegous, relates to the abuse
of "~" or "not"
i. God can do what they can do.
McEvoy's double negative claim:
ii. God cannot do what they cannot undo.
McEvoy's poses (ii) as a question. As such, it implicates an 'answer',
unless it doesn't.
In "Unanswerable questions," Rush Rhees, a Wittgensteinian, claims, that
"one trait by Witters was to pose questions that he KNEW had no SERIOUS
answers; or that they were HARDLY JOCULAR, anyway." (now repr. in "Discussions
of Wittgenstein").
Cheers,
Speranza
Cheers,
Speranza
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