Could God Make A Rock So Heavy He Himself Could Not Lift it?
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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.
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