68. Eternity, Divine Knowledge, and the Philosophy of the Continuous

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Eternity versus Time #

• Time is characterized by before and after—a succession of moments that flow and pass away
• Eternity is the whole and perfect possession of unending life—characterized by simultaneity, not succession
• The present moment (now) in time is always fleeting; one cannot truly possess precious moments because time continuously flows onward
• If one could freeze the now of time, practically nothing of life would be possessed in that frozen instant
• Even endless time would still have before and after, distinguishing it fundamentally from eternity

The Definition of Eternity (from Boethius) #

“Tota simul et perfecta possessio vitae interminabilis” (The whole and perfect possession of unending life)

Each word negates an imperfection found in temporal life:

• Simul (all at once): Negates the flowing before and after of time
• Perfecta (perfect): Negates the imperfection and fleeting nature of temporal moments
• Tota (whole): Emphasizes complete possession
• Possessio (possession): What is firmly grasped, unlike the flowing now of time
• Vitae (of life): God possesses not mere being but life itself
• Interminabilis (unending): Without beginning or end

Divine Knowledge of Future Contingents #

• A future contingent is something in the future that could happen or not happen—it is undetermined
• God knows future contingents with certainty because He knows them in His eternal now, not temporally
• This is not false knowledge because the way God knows does not have to be the way things are (following Aristotle’s insight from the Posterior Analytics)
• Analogy: Just as I remember the past now without the past being present now, God knows the future in His eternal now without the future being temporally present
• Scripture speaks of this: “Announce the future to us and we’ll declare you gods” (implying only God can know future contingents with certainty)

The Mountain Analogy #

• A man standing on a mountain looking down sees all people walking along a path simultaneously, even though they are separated in space and time
• This provides a homely analogy for how God sees all moments—past, present, and future—as present to Him in His eternity
• Yet this is only an imperfect image; God’s knowledge is infinitely more perfect

The Sin of Adam and Eve #

• Their sin was spiritual pride, not carnal sin (common misinterpretation based on their discovering nakedness)
• They sought knowledge of future contingents—the ability to foresee all unintended consequences of their actions
• This would have made them self-sufficient in directing their actions, independent of God’s guidance
• The devil tempted them with “you will be like God,” promising them god-like knowledge of good and evil as consequences
• Their original state: reason and will subject to God → emotions subject to reason → body subject to soul
• Their punishment was proportional: As they revolted from God, their body revolted from their soul, and their emotions from their reason (loss of bodily integrity)

Divine Providence and Human Prudence #

• Prudentia (prudence) derives etymologically from providentia (foresight/divine providence)
• Human prudence is necessarily imperfect because humans cannot foresee future contingents
• Humans can only anticipate partially; many things happen unforeseeably
• Example: Going to the drugstore, a green light, and someone running a red light—the collision cannot be foreseen
• Even exceptional foresight (like Churchill’s or Theodore Roosevelt’s) remains limited
• God’s providence extends to all things; even lower angels depend on higher angels’ illumination to see the whole picture
• The virtue of prudence is named from foresight because foresight is its crowning part

The Philosophy of the Continuous #

• The continuous (continuum) is more fundamental than geometry because geometry presupposes principles about the continuous
• Continuous: that whose parts meet at a common boundary (e.g., line segments meet at a point; surfaces meet at a line)
• Discrete: that whose parts do not meet at a common boundary (e.g., numbers)
• Geometry considers: line (one dimension), surface (two dimensions), geometrical body (three dimensions)
• But geometry does not consider motion, which is also continuous
• Motion over a line is continuous; the time of motion is also continuous
• These three (line, motion, time) are interconnected through continuity

Key Properties of the Continuous #

• The continuous is divisible forever (infinitely divisible)
• The continuous is not composed of indivisibles: a line is not composed of points; time is not composed of nows; motion is not composed of indivisible instants
• The reason is the same in each case: indivisibles cannot be the components of what is continuous
• If faster and slower bodies cover the same distance, the faster covers it in less time; in that less time, the slower covers less distance—thus both distance and time are divisible forever

Why the Continuous Matters for Philosophy #

• Understanding the continuous is necessary to understand what is not continuous (reason, the soul)
• If reason is not continuous, then reason is not a body—this leads to conclusions about the immortality of the soul
• Basic words (beginning, end, before, after, in) originate from the continuous; their use elsewhere depends on understanding this foundation
• Geometry supposes truths about the continuous (e.g., “between any two points a straight line can be drawn” assumes points cannot touch without coinciding, which assumes points do not compose a line)

Key Arguments #

God’s Knowledge is Not False #

1. God knows all things in His eternal now
2. The way of knowing need not match the way things are (Aristotelian principle)
3. I remember the past now without the past being present now—yet my memory is not false
4. Similarly, God knows the future in His eternal now without the future being temporally present
5. Therefore, God’s knowledge of future contingents is not false

Why the Philosophy of the Continuous is More Fundamental than Geometry #

1. Geometry presupposes that between any two points a straight line can be drawn
2. This presupposes that two points cannot touch without coinciding
3. This presupposes that a line is not composed of points
4. These truths pertain to the continuous as such, not to geometry
5. Therefore, the philosophy of the continuous is more basic and more characteristic of wisdom than geometry

Why Adam and Eve’s Sin Was Spiritual, Not Carnal #

1. In their original state, their body was completely subject to their soul, and their emotions to their reason
2. They had no disorderly concupiscence or disordered emotions
3. Therefore, a temptation to carnal sin would not have appealed to them
4. But intellectual pride—the desire to be self-sufficient—would appeal to their reason
5. Therefore, their sin must have been spiritual pride: seeking knowledge of future contingents to direct themselves independently of God

Important Definitions #

• Eternity (aeternitas): The whole and perfect possession of unending life, characterized by simul (all at once) rather than temporal succession
• Time: That which numbers motion according to before and after
• The now (nunc): The limit or boundary of time; in time, the now flows; in eternity, the now stands still
• Future contingent: Something in the future that could happen or not happen; undetermined until actualized
• Continuous (continuum): That whose parts meet at a common boundary; infinitely divisible
• Discrete: That whose parts do not meet at a common boundary (e.g., number)
• Prudence (prudentia): The virtue of directing one’s actions by reason; derived from foresight (providentia)
• Providence: Divine foresight and governance of all things; what God extends to all contingent futures

Examples & Illustrations #

Temporal Possession #

• Going back to a beloved place (e.g., Peter’s location): The exhilaration cannot be possessed again because the moment flows on; “time waits for no man”
• Mother’s saying: “Climax spoils the romance”—precious moments cannot be held because time continuously flows
• Frozen princess in fairy tale: If the now were frozen, everyone frozen in one moment—yet practically no life would be possessed; a servant carrying a turkey, frozen mid-action, possesses nothing of life in that frozen instant
• Cannot carry on an argument with Thomas Aquinas in a single frozen moment; cannot possess much of life in the now of time

Divine Knowledge #

• Old radio program “You Were There”: Reenactment of Socrates’ trial, Lincoln’s assassination, etc., making past events present. God’s perspective is “You’ll be there”—all times are present to Him
• Man on a mountain seeing three people on a path: Though they are separated below, he sees all three together from above, seeing the whole picture
• Churchill’s escape from South Africa (Boer War): As a young correspondent and prisoner, he escaped and knocked on a random door. That house happened to have English-affiliated inhabitants who sheltered him. This could not possibly have been foreseen; it is God’s prerogative to know such contingencies
• St. Margaret Mary Alacoque and Claude de la Colombière: Before Claude went to England, Margaret Mary would tell him he would meet certain people—and sure enough, he would. She was receiving this knowledge from God, not mere guess

Human Foresight #

• Going to the drugstore: A green light invites you to cross, but someone runs a red light and hits you—this collision could not be foreseen
• Young drivers vs. experienced drivers: Freshmen drinking alcohol get sicker than seniors because they lack foresight about consequences
• The virtue of foresight (providentia): One of the integral parts of prudence, named as the crowning part because it is the most characteristic aspect

Original Sin #

• Adam and Eve’s covering their nakedness: This is after the sin, not the sin itself. Their nakedness itself was innocent in their original state
• Proportional punishment (from Book of David): David sins against God; he is punished by his son revolting against him—a fitting justice
• Parents not subject to God are sometimes punished by their children not being subject to them—there is an appropriateness in this punishment
• The continuous nature of reason: If reason is not continuous, then it is not body—this implies the soul is not material

Questions Addressed #

How can God know the future without determining it? #

• God knows future contingents in His eternal now, where all times are present
• God’s way of knowing need not match the way things are in time
• The future contingent is undetermined temporally but determined in God’s eternal knowledge
• This does not contradict human freedom because human acts are free from the temporal perspective

What exactly was the sin of Adam and Eve? #

• Not a carnal or bodily sin (common misinterpretation)
• A spiritual sin of pride: seeking knowledge of future contingents to be self-sufficient
• They already knew the moral law (what is good and bad to do)
• They sought to foresee all consequences—to be like God in knowing what would happen, independent of God’s guidance

Why is understanding the continuous important for natural philosophy? #

• Words like beginning, end, before, after, in originate from the continuous and are extended to other domains
• Understanding the continuous is necessary to understand what is not continuous (the soul, reason)
• If the soul is not continuous, it is not a body—leading to conclusions about immortality
• The continuous is presupposed by geometry and is therefore more fundamental

How do we extend words from the continuous to discontinuous domains? #

• Words originating in the continuous (beginning, end, before, after, in) can be extended to definitions, divisions, and syllogisms
• Words tied to sensible matter (red, green) cannot be extended as easily
• The extension depends on whether the concept underlying the word applies to the new domain

Notable Quotes #

“Plato is a friend, but truth is a greater friend.” (Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics I, cited through Thomistic commentary)

“If it isn’t to me, you’ll pay a lot of attention to the truth, and a little to Socrates.” (Socrates, Phaedo, on truth over friendship)

“Announce the future to us and we’ll declare you gods.” (Scripture, reflecting the divine prerogative of knowing future contingents)

“For the good all things work for the good.” (Romans, on divine providence)

“Time waits for no man.” (Common saying, used to illustrate the flowing nature of time)

“A flatterer would not tell you the truth; a friend should.” (From discussion of Brutus and Cassius in Julius Caesar, via Shakespeare)

Connections to Previous Discussions #

• The doctrine of divine omniscience raises the classical problem: If God knows all future contingents with certainty, how can human acts be free?
• The understanding of the now in time versus the eternal now is foundational to distinguishing God’s mode of existence from creatures'
• The concept of prudence as foresight connects to human limitations in providence and the need to turn to God
• The philosophy of the continuous is introduced as foundational before deeper investigation of motion and time