Could God Make A Rock So Heavy He Himself Could Not Lift it?
-
Derek Anderson
Abstract
I argue for the controversial view that God could indeed create a rock so heavy that He Himself could not lift it. This paper is in the tradition of modal metaphysics initiated by Hawthorne and Uzqiano’s (2011. “How Many Angels Can Dance on the Point of a Needle? Transcendental Theology Meets Modal Metaphysics.” Mind 120 (477): 53–81) “How many angels can dance on the point of a needle?” The argument proceeds through an in-depth consideration of the theoretical physics involved in imagining God trying to create and lift a maximally heavy rock using mechanical force. This narrative thought experiment serves as a springboard for investigating modal puzzles about the limits to which the laws of physics can be modified while retaining the conceptual possibility of weight and lifting.
References
Amini, M. 2009. “Omnipotence and the Vicious Circle Principle.” In Forum Philosophicum, Vol. 14, 247–58. Akademia Ignatianum w Krakowie.10.5840/forphil20091424Suche in Google Scholar
Aquinas, S. T. 2014. “Part I, Question 25.” In The Summa Theologica: Complete Edition. USA: Catholic Way Publishing.Suche in Google Scholar
Bassford, Andrew Dennis. 2023. God and the Problem of Logic. Cambridge University Press.10.1017/9781009272391Suche in Google Scholar
Beall, Jc, and A. J. Cotnoir. 2017. “God of the Gaps: A Neglected Reply to God’s Stone Problem.” Analysis 77 (4): 681–9. https://doi.org/10.1093/analys/anx069.Suche in Google Scholar
Bombaci, Ignazio. 1996. “The Maximum Mass of a Neutron Star.” Astronomy and Astrophysics 305: 871.Suche in Google Scholar
Hawthorne, J., and G. Uzquiano. 2011. “How Many Angels can Dance on the Point of a Needle? Transcendental Theology Meets Modal Metaphysics.” Mind 120 (477): 53–81. https://doi.org/10.1093/mind/fzr004.Suche in Google Scholar
Lattimer, J. M. 2012. “The Nuclear Equation of State and Neutron Star Masses.” Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science 62: 485–515. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-nucl-102711-095018.Suche in Google Scholar
Mackie, J. L. 1955. “Evil and Omnipotence.” Mind 64 (254): 200–12.10.1093/mind/LXIV.254.200Suche in Google Scholar
Massimi, M. 2005. Pauli’s Exclusion Principle: The Origin and Validation of a Scientific Principle. Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511535352Suche in Google Scholar
Mavrodes, George I. 1963. “Some Puzzles Concerning Omnipotence.” Philosophical Review 72 (2): 221–3. https://doi.org/10.2307/2183106.Suche in Google Scholar
Oppenheimer, J. R., and G. M. Volkoff. 1939. “On Massive Neutron Cores.” Physical Review 55 (4): 374. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrev.55.374.Suche in Google Scholar
Oppy, G. 2005. “Omnipotence.” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 71 (1): 58–84. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1933-1592.2005.tb00430.x.Suche in Google Scholar
Schwarzschild, K. 1999. “On the Gravitational Field of a Mass Point According to Einstein’s Theory.” Sitzungsberichte der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (Maths, Physics) 1916: 189–96, https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.physics/9905030.Suche in Google Scholar
Swinburne, Richard. 1973. “Omnipotence.” American Philosophical Quarterly 10: 231–7.Suche in Google Scholar
Tedder, A., and G. Badia. 2018. “Currying Omnipotence: A Reply to Beall and Cotnoir.” Thought: A Journal of Philosophy 7 (2): 119–21. https://doi.org/10.1002/tht3.376.Suche in Google Scholar
Wielenberg, E. J. 2021. “Omnipotence.” In The Encyclopedia of Philosophy of Religion, 1–3. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Online Library.10.1002/9781119009924.eopr0278Suche in Google Scholar
© 2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
