Dictionary of Philosophy of Religion

(Dana P.) #1
91

FOUCAULT, MICHEL

existence of God. These conclude that
there is (1) a first mover, (2) a first
efficient cause, (3) a necessary being,
(4) a maximally perfect being, and (5) a
designer.


FLORENTINE ACADEMY. A key
movement in the Renaissance reclama-
tion of classical sources driven particu-
larly by the writings of Marsilio Ficino
and Giovanni Pico Della Mirandola,
whose work first brought the Platonic tra-
dition and Platonic translations system-
atically into Western philosophy. Their
philosophy is typified by the syncretic
claim that, although Christian revelation
is the primary model of God’s revelation,
pagan philosophical systems could reveal
something of the truth of God. The great-
est of these pagan traditions was the
Platonic, particularly as understood in
the Neoplatonic formulations of Plotinus
and his followers.


FOREKNOWLEDGE. Ability to know
the future. Given an omniscient God
(in a strong, unrestricted sense of omni-
science), foreknowledge is often thought
to be essential to the very nature of God.
For God to be omniscient, God cannot
be ignorant of the future. Foreknowledge
does raise paradoxes, however. If God
knows you will freely read this entry in
2011, could you have done otherwise?
Most monotheists hold that God is eter-
nal and that God only foreknows what


you will do from our point of view,
whereas to God all times are present to
God’s eternal presence. Some moderns
(often called open theists) deny divine
foreknowledge and understand omni-
science as covering all that is possible for
God (or any being) to know. They thereby
restrict omniscience to not including all
future acts.

FORGIVENESS. The traditional defini-
tion of forgiveness is that it involves
a person forswearing (or moderating)
resentment directed at a presumed
wrong-doer. The forgiver is one who has
been either directly or indirectly wronged;
it would make no sense for someone to
forgive a person unless that person is
believed to have wronged the forgiver.
Questions arise about the relationship of
forgiveness and mercy, whether forgive-
ness can be wrong, and the extent to
which forgiveness must be relational. Is
forgiveness conditional on the wrong-
doer confessing and reforming?

FOUCAULT, MICHEL (1926–1984).
A French thinker who employed philo-
sophical methods in treating culturally
and politically significant institutions
and practices. Foucault’s work is in the
Nietzschean spirit of unmasking so called
impartial, objective principles and insti-
tutions as being actually motivated by
very particular forces. He has been influ-
ential on feminist philosophers of religion
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