Q&A: God’s Knowledge in Maimonides
God’s Knowledge in Maimonides
Question
Hello, following your comment that Maimonides’ answer is meaningless:
If there is a creature living in a two-dimensional world, for example an A4 sheet of paper, and we try to show it a three-dimensional sphere, of course we can’t. But we could pass the sphere through the sheet, and each time there would be a two-dimensional scan of the sphere. So on the sheet, at first a dot would appear (the edge of the sphere touching the sheet), then a circle that keeps growing (largest when the center of the sphere is scanned through the sheet), and then shrinking. If we have time, we can scan the whole sphere. Because the two-dimensional creature is limited in its perception, if it has no concept of time it could never grasp the entire three-dimensional object; it would be stuck.
The analogy is this: we are the creatures who perceive reality only in a limited number of dimensions. Every present moment is a scan of the reality that actually exists on a “higher” dimensional level. God perceives reality as it is, without any need for time. The whole of reality exists statically (timelessly), and God perceives all of it. Within that reality there are regions that are given over to our choice (our free will). God simply observes reality in a timeless way; we, being limited, experience reality as a sequence of “scans” on a time axis within our limited-dimensional space.
That way there is choice, and there is God’s knowledge (everything is foreseen, yet permission is granted). All the concepts of choice and knowledge exist in a timeless way in space. We only experience them as dependent on time. In this way the conceptual problem of knowledge “before” choice disappears (there is no such thing as “before,” because in truth there is no time, only space).
Thank you for your attention. Thanks in advance.
Answer
What you’re saying, in many words, is the common answer that God is above time and space, etc., and therefore can do anything. That is not relevant to the discussion. The question is not how He obtains the information, but after He has the information, how we can still have free choice. See my series of columns on knowledge and free choice.
Discussion on Answer
All of reality, including us, exists in a timeless space; the experience of time is an illusion.
Meaningless claims don’t help solve any problem. Why not just say outright that God is above logic, and then all the difficulties disappear, and that’s that?
It’s not the same thing, which is why I gave the example in advance — it has a parallel that we are able to grasp, and we extrapolate from it. A color-blind person is still able to know that there are more colors beyond the limited range he sees, even if he has no perception of them.
Just as the two-dimensional creature cannot perceive a three-dimensional thing, and we cannot perceive a four-dimensional thing. It’s a different kind of meaninglessness.
In any case, I didn’t know about the existence of the columns you referred me to. I’ve already read the first three and am looking forward to reading the last one (I’ve already gone over it in two sittings), waiting. Thanks
Hi, the claim is that our actions do not happen at a point in time but in a timeless space, of which we experience one piece as the present. The mistake is in saying that you do something “today” or “in the future” — we do actions at a certain point in space.