Q&A: Logic and God
Logic and God
Question
A. Does the assumption that even things outside reality (like God, who is above it) are subject to the laws of logic and nature follow from logical necessity, or is it because the simple default is that the laws apply to everything, and whoever claims otherwise bears the burden of proof—and if so, then it is only an assumption and not something that really obligates one who does not accept it?
B. Is God Himself subject to the laws of logic, since they require His existence, or is there no connection between the fact that He exists by virtue of these laws and His very existence, such that there is no reason to assume that He depends on any law whatsoever?
Answer
I have written about this many times. When you speak about being "subject" to the laws of logic, you are mistaken. A triangle is not round not because it is subject to some law, but because a triangle is not round by definition. Therefore, the laws of logic are not laws like the laws of a state, or even the laws of nature. Nobody is subject to them, and they are not really laws. So there is also no point talking about burden of proof. It is impossible to prove that something is outside logic, if only because proof itself is a logical matter.
Therefore God too is "subject" to the laws of logic, and there is no problem with that.
See, for example, this article (you can also search the site for being subject to the laws of logic as opposed to the laws of nature):
https://www.google.com/url?client=internal-element-cse&cx=f18e4f052adde49eb&q=https://mikyab.net/%25D7%259B%25D7%25AA%25D7%2591%25D7%2599%25D7%259D/%25D7%259E%25D7%2590%25D7%259E%25D7%25A8%25D7%2599%25D7%259D/%25D7%25A2%25D7%259C-%25D7%25AA%25D7%2595%25D7%25A8%25D7%25AA-%25D7%2594%25D7%25A7%25D7%2595%25D7%2595%25D7%25A0%25D7%2598%25D7%2599%25D7%259D-%25D7%2595%25D7%2598%25D7%25A2%25D7%25A0%25D7%2595%25D7%2595%25D7%25AA-%25D7%2590%25D7%259E%25D7%2595%25D7%25A0%25D7%2595%25D7%25AA-%25D7%25A1%25D7%25AA%25D7%2599%25D7%25A8%25D7%25AA%25D7%2599/&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwiguqvL-rWQAxUWV6QEHTvEIXUQFnoECAgQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0ZRMAxvPbk7NiJk77v9y3L
All this is with respect to the "laws" of logic. The laws of nature are something entirely different, and obviously God is not subject to them. Where did you get the idea that I was saying He is subject to them?
Discussion on Answer
I have been asked about this dozens of times here on the site. I will answer briefly, and I suggest you search.
1. Causality does not pertain to God but to nature. Our world is natural, and therefore it ought to have a cause. That cause is God.
2. This is not an empirical law of nature but an a priori one, and therefore its scope is not limited only to the nature familiar to us.
Regarding 2 (I searched and did not find any discussion of it): basically, an a priori law of nature is created by reason in accordance with what it perceives from nature, and even according to the rationalist approach, the very brain that grasps these laws is itself part of nature in the simple sense (neurons, etc.), so why infer from that also to something beyond our reality?
No. A priori does not mean according to what one understands from nature.
Yes, but you prove God from a law of nature (causality), and about that I am asking: why do you assume that this law of nature also applies outside reality?