Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Philosoft · 05-26-2002, 07:07 PM

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E_muse wrote:

Existence is always an attribute of something.

Incorrect. Attributes are abstract things that material things can have or lack. It is not possible for a thing to lack the attribute of existence.

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This would seem to suggest that time is an attribute of anything that possesses the ability to change.

'Time' is a measure of change. It cannot be an attribute because, again, a material thing cannot lack time.

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Are we correct in suggesting that time is a 'dimension'?

It appears to have some qualities of physical dimension, yet it lacks others.

I wrote:

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If God exists as an abstraction, you've got a new set of problems.

E_muse replied:

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It could lead us towards deism.

I think you misunderstand. An abstraction is by definition a mentally perceived thing. To label God an abstraction is to remove his ability to act as an independent thing.

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It could be our understanding of time that is at fault. This is something I am currently putting a lot of thought into - so apologies if I cannot offer any well defined arguement.

There are only two logical possibilities:

1)Time is a measure of change.

2)Time is not a measure of change, in which case time becomes a measure of illusory change and you are left with two arguments:

a)God does experience change but it is measured by something other than time.

b)God does not experience change, yet understands change to the degree that he is capable of creating beings that experience change.

a) is unarguable, save for mere assertion.

b) is incomprehensible.

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