"Рэймонд Смаллиан. Две философские сценки (англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

GOD: But by the same token, you place me in a double bind. I am willing
to leave you free will or remove it as you choose, but neither alternative
satisfies you. I wish to help you, but it seems I cannot.
MORTAL: True!
GOD: But since it is not my fault, why are you still angry with me?
MORTAL: For having placed me in such a horrible predicament in first
place!
GOD: But, according to you, there is nothing satisfactory I could have
done.
MORTAL: You mean there is nothing satisfactory you can now do, that
does not mean that there is nothing you could have done.
GOD: Why? What could I have done?
MORTAL: Obviously you should never have given me free will in the first
place. Now that you have given it to me, it is too late--anything I do will
be bad. But you should never have given it to me in the first place.
GOD: Oh, that's it! Why would it have been better had I never given it
to you?
MORTAL: Because then I never would have been capable of sinning at all.
GOD: Well, I'm always glad to learn from my mistakes.
MORTAL: What!
GOD: I know, that sounds sort of self-blasphemous, doesn't it? It
almost involves a logical paradox! On the one hand, as you have been taught,
it is morally wrong for any sentient being to claim that I am capable of
making mistakes. On the other hand, I have the right to do anything. But I
am also a sentient being. So the question is, Do, I or do I not have the
right to claim that I am capable of making mistakes?
MORTAL: That is a bad joke! One of your premises is simply false. I
have not been taught that it is wrong for any sentient being to doubt your
omniscience, but only for a mortal to doubt it. But since you are not
mortal, then you are obviously free from this injunction.
GOD: Good, so you realize this on a rational level. Nevertheless, you
did appear shocked when I said, "I am always glad to learn from my
mistakes."
MORTAL: Of course I was shocked. I was shocked not by your
self-blasphemy (as you jokingly called it), not by the fact that you had no
right to say it, but just by the fact that you did say it, since I have been
taught that as a matter of fact you don't make mistakes. So I was amazed
that you claimed that it is possible for you to make mistakes.
GOD: I have not claimed that it is possible. All I am saying is that if
I make mistakes, I will be happy to learn from them. But this says nothing
about whether the if has or ever can be realized.
MORTAL: Let's please stop quibbling about this point. Do you or do you
not admit it was a mistake to have given me free will?
GOD: Well now, this is precisely what I propose we should investigate.
Let me review your present predicament. You don't want to have free will
because with free will you can sin, and you don't want to sin. (Though I
still find this puzzling; in a way you must want to sin, or else you
wouldn't. But let this pass for now.) On the other hand, if you agreed to
give up free will, then you would now be responsible for the acts of the
future. Ergo, I should never have given you free will in the first place.