INCOMMENSURABILITY
122life of limited power and vulnerability,
limited knowledge, and location.
Some theologians do not posit a
limitation of these properties: they hold
instead that while the second person of
the trinity retained all divine properties,
the second person of the trinity focused
its life as a created mind that became the
person of Jesus Christ, the child born in
Palestine. On this view, sometimes called
the two minds theory, Jesus Christ is the
embodied mind of God, a mind that
exists within the broader divine mind of
God. T. V. Morris and Richard Swinburne
defend versions of this second account.
INCOMMENSURABILITY. Two values
are incommensurate if they cannot be
compared in importance or significance
on a single scale or framework. For exam-
ple, what is more important: friendship
or art? If we cannot rank these values,
they are incomensurate.
INCONSISTENT TRIAD. Three pro-
positions that cannot all be true. Accord-
ing to some (but not all) atheists, the
following is an inconsistent triad: God
is all good. God is all-powerful. There
is evil.
INCORPOREALITY. Nonphysical or
disembodied. Classical theists claim
that God is nonphysical, and some reli-
gions that believe in an afterlife hold
that a human being at death becomes
disembodied.
INDUCTION. Reasoning is inductive
when it proceeds from specific cases to a
general conclusion. Inductive reasoning
is typically considered fallible: One may
reasonably conclude that “All swans are
white” having observed thousands and
even millions of swans, even though the
general statement is false (there are black
swans).INFALLIBILITY. Incapable of being
in error. Some Christians, for example,
believe the Bible, as the revealed word of
God, is infallible. See also FALLIBILISM.INFERENCE. An inference refers to what
can be learned, whereas an entailment is
an essential, logical relation.INFINITE. Not finite. Some philosophers
deny there can be an actual infinite, but
think that there can be potential infinities
(sequences that have a beginning but no
end). If persons are immortal, they have a
potential infinite for a future, for their
lives will not have an end-point, but they
will never complete an actual infinite
(as there can be no greatest possible
number).INSPIRATION. In philosophy of reli-
gion, inspiration is most often associated
with the concept of revelation. Traditional
Christians, for example, believe that
scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit:
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is