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God's problem of multiple choice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 April 2006

LLOYD STRICKLAND
LLOYD STRICKLAND
Affiliation:
Department of Religious Studies, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YG
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Abstract

A question that has been largely overlooked by philosophers of religion is how God would be able to effect a rational choice between two worlds of unsurpassable goodness. To answer this question, I draw a parallel with the paradigm cases of indifferent choice, including Buridan's ass, and argue that such cases can be satisfactorily resolved provided that the protagonists employ what Otto Neurath calls an ‘auxiliary motive’. I supply rational grounds for the employment of such a motive, and then argue against the views of Leibniz and Nicholas Rescher to show that this solution would also work for God.

Type
Research Article
Information
Religious Studies , Volume 42 , Issue 2 , June 2006 , pp. 141 - 157
Copyright
2006 Cambridge University Press

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