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On the question of knowledge and choice

שו”תCategory: faithOn the question of knowledge and choice
asked 7 years ago

B.E.
On the question of knowledge and choice, Maimonides resolves the question according to the accepted explanation (in his method) that his knowledge is not like our knowledge, even though there is a logical contradiction here.
Although the Rambam himself agrees that there are divine prohibitions (as does Rabbi Elbo – such as whether God can create another God).
In addition, on the subject of negating the titles, it appears that nothing can be said about God (although negation advances me, as Rabbi Elbo writes),
So, if I can’t say anything about God (descriptions and not His essence), what prevents me from remaining silent and saying nothing or reaching all sorts of conclusions (such as God doesn’t know what will happen because there is a logical contradiction here), if I assume that I am unable to grasp the divine logic because I live in a space of a different logic that is imprinted in me a priori, then we will simply remain silent and say nothing, but simply know Him not as we know Him?
Or on the other hand, if I reconcile the questions here, am I saying something because, in my starting assumption, I am saying that God is bound by my logic?


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מיכי Staff answered 7 years ago
Precisely because the Rambam himself agrees that there is abstention in God (meaning that he is committed to logic. And contrary to your words, it is not “ours”), the conclusion is the opposite of yours: he does not settle the issue but accepts it. When he says that his knowledge is not like ours, he is actually saying that he really does not have knowledge in the sense accepted by us. Why? Precisely because foreknowledge logically contradicts freedom of will, and therefore God is prevented from fulfilling both. He gave up his knowledge in order to enable our freedom of choice. Regarding the theory of negation of degrees, this is a painful subject. In my opinion, these things are meaningless, and therefore I cannot explain them to you. I’ve written about this in several places. See Two Carts and Freedom Sciences, and also search here on the site.

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