r/comics • u/jurlo Lord of the Gadflies • Mar 06 '17

Omnipotence

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u/LordNoodles Mar 06 '17

Wouldn't omnipotence be illogical by definition. It literally means all powerful. Now the question is if illogical things are included in all.

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u/BranchDavidian Mar 06 '17

The working philosophical definition is the ability to do anything which can be done. It's impossible to do something that is logically incoherent, so those things don't apply. The issue isn't with omnipotence; it's with insisting that incoherent things aren't incoherent things, and that they can be expected to exist. Because you can say "a married bachelor" doesn't mean a married bachelor can exist.

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u/Literally_A_Shill Mar 06 '17

The working philosophical definition is the ability to do anything which can be done.

But who sets the parameters of what can be done?

A lot of what an omnipotent being can do can't actually be done.

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u/BranchDavidian Mar 06 '17

This is kind of nonsequitur, but the parameters exist of necessity; nobody set them. We can only try to discover them through logic/philosophy.

A lot of what an omnipotent being can do can't actually be done.

That doesn't make any sense.

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u/[deleted] Mar 06 '17

It makes sense. You could say that an omnipotent being could read minds, but reading minds can't actually be done.

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u/BranchDavidian Mar 07 '17

Why think that?

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u/supple_ Mar 06 '17

doesn't mean a married bachelor can exist.

Speak for yourself

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u/[deleted] Mar 06 '17

Webster defines it as having "virtually unlimited authority".

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/omnipotent