CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2012
| Author | Becskereki, Ida |
|---|---|
| Title | Semantics and Foreknowledge; Logical Presuppositions in William Ockham's and Robert Holcot's Solution to Divine Foreknowledge |
| Summary | The problem of divine foreknowledge; i.e., how to reconcile God’s foreknowledge with essentially free human will is one of the enduring topics of medieval theology. During the fourteenth century the issue was hotly debated in both Oxford and Paris. I discuss the work of two important authors from this period, first, William Ockham (OFM ca. 1288-1347), who is credited with great influence on contemporary thought, and then Robert Holcot (OP ca. 1290-1349), who developed and modified Ockham’s influential ideas. By making a comparative logical analysis I argue that the significant differences between the solutions offered by these two theologians are the consequences of their different semantic theories. Holcot’s more restricted signification theory allows a narrower interpretation of divine foreknowledge: God knows only future-tensed propositions and knows them only indeterminately. Ockham claims that terms in future- (and past-) tensed propositions can also have a sort of signification and therefore, although it is impossible to give a logical analysis of divine foreknowledge, he can argue that God has definite knowledge about future events. Besides the logical explanation of these arguments I briefly discuss some sub-problems related to the main issue: the case of divine revelation and beatific vision, the problem of temporally changing knowledge, and the relation between God’s eternity and the created realm existing in time. |
| Supervisor | Gereby, Gyorgy |
| Department | Medieval Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2012/becskereki_ida.pdf |
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