[Yasa]

Quote by: Fangrim I disagree with this premise. Your premise 3 takes the view that if an omniscient being knows action X will occur, then the action must necessarily occur. I could easily take the opposite view. If action X occurs, an omniscient being must necessarily knows that action will occur. The action does not occur because the being knows it; the being knows it because the action will occur. Thus, one takes an action of one's volition, and the omniscient being knows the action will occur because it will happen. This removes the contradiction between free will and omniscience.

There is no difference in what we are saying. I agree that the action is not causally effected by the knowledge, however I'm saying that due to the knowledge (if it is true) it must necessarily happen a certain way--i.e. no room for other possible outcomes=>no free will.

What you're saying is that the being knows it because it willoccur, i.e. that we don't have free will (because if it will occur, then it's not contingent).

Quote by: Dr_Acula The whole thing is potential. Suppose you have two possibilities, so they both have potential. But what is potential? Ignorance. It refers to what you don't know, and therefore you are uncertain which decision will prevail. But then the decision is made and only one possibility prooved to be really possible, and the other one was never really possible. You just didn't know, you didn't have enough knowledge, so you were forced to say that both had potential. If you knew all the facts, then you would see that only one option will happen.

Indeed. I agree and am to conclude that free will (as described in the OP) only exists due to ignorance. Namely, ignorance of the future.

Quote by: Dr_Acula Yet still, lets not forget that the decision made was the one that prevailed after the individual assesed the situation and choose the course of action that HE decided was most suitable, so in that sense, it was still the will of the individual, free or not.

I agree, however the issue, of course, is whether the will was free (which, as you agreed, it is not).