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to work out what a stone that could not be moved even by an omnipotent being could possibly be like – what it would weigh, what would stop it moving, and so on.
Yet actually it’s not really a paradox, because it’s simply a question of using mutually exclusive terms. There simply cannot be a stone that cannot be moved by an omnipotent being. It would be the equivalent of a square circle, a married bachelor, a sunny night or a wet desert. So the question is pointless. An omnipotent god cannot create a stone that he cannot lift, but that doesn’t mean he is not omni potent. It’s just false logic.
Of course, many theologists would say that God is beyond logic anyway. So in answer to the question, ‘CanGod create a stone he cannot lift?’ the answer is ‘Yes, and he can lift it’. His powers are said to be miraculous beyond human understanding. That’s how he created the universe from nothing and could, if he wanted, make 2 + 2 equal 5. QED.
In some ways, though, this leads on to fundamental questions that continue to intrigue yet remain impossible to answer, and that appear to be genuine paradoxes. What was there before the beginning of time, for instance? What is beyond the universe, if the universe is everything there is? Cosmologists now say they believe the universe is finite. But how can a universe, which by definition includes everything, be finite? How can the limitless be limited? How can eternity start and end? It’s asking questions like these that has, ironically, turned some cosmologists to belief in God, because it seems there are things that it’s genuinely impossible for the human mind to comprehend.
Should someone sell their kidney?
(Medicine, Cambridge)
Ever since organ transplants first became common in the 1960s, there has been a problem sourcing suitable donor organs. An estimated 170,000 people are on the waiting list for kidneys in the USA and Europe, and each year another 5,000 join the queue. Most kidneys for transplant come from dead donors, but since people can usually survivewith just one of their kidneys, they can also come from living donors – about 1 in 10 in the UK do and 1 in 4 in the USA. Kidneys from living donors are generally in better condition, and there is a better chance of finding a good match, especially among relatives. Taking a kidney from a living donor also avoids the horrible unpredictability of waiting for someone with a compatible kidney to be killed accidentally or die quickly without damage to the organ.
The problem is, of course, that not everyone has a generous relative sitting by, which is why desperate kidney sufferers in the world’s richer countries may look for a donor in the developing world. And with kidneys fetching well over $5,000, many poor people in countries like Pakistan and Colombia have been tempted to sell one of their kidneys. Most governments try to stop the trade in organs, but kidney sufferers in rich countries are desperate for health, and people in poor countries are desperate for money, so the trade continues on the black market, even where it isn’t allowed legally. At least 6,000 kidneys are traded around the world each year. In Pakistan, there are many villages where more than two out of five people have just a single kidney.
Those who partake in the trade justify it like this. The kidney sufferer is very ill, and if someone else can help them by donating a kidney, why shouldn’t they? And if the kidney sufferer is rich and the donor very poor, why shouldn’t they show their gratitude with a generous cash payment? That way, two people benefit: the recipient whogets his new kidney and a new lease of life, and the donor who gets a cash payment that transforms his life and maybe that of his entire family. According to David Holcberg of the Ayn Rand centre, it’s a matter of self-determination: ‘The right to buy an organ is part of your right to life. The right to life is the right to take all actions a rational being
Yet actually it’s not really a paradox, because it’s simply a question of using mutually exclusive terms. There simply cannot be a stone that cannot be moved by an omnipotent being. It would be the equivalent of a square circle, a married bachelor, a sunny night or a wet desert. So the question is pointless. An omnipotent god cannot create a stone that he cannot lift, but that doesn’t mean he is not omni potent. It’s just false logic.
Of course, many theologists would say that God is beyond logic anyway. So in answer to the question, ‘CanGod create a stone he cannot lift?’ the answer is ‘Yes, and he can lift it’. His powers are said to be miraculous beyond human understanding. That’s how he created the universe from nothing and could, if he wanted, make 2 + 2 equal 5. QED.
In some ways, though, this leads on to fundamental questions that continue to intrigue yet remain impossible to answer, and that appear to be genuine paradoxes. What was there before the beginning of time, for instance? What is beyond the universe, if the universe is everything there is? Cosmologists now say they believe the universe is finite. But how can a universe, which by definition includes everything, be finite? How can the limitless be limited? How can eternity start and end? It’s asking questions like these that has, ironically, turned some cosmologists to belief in God, because it seems there are things that it’s genuinely impossible for the human mind to comprehend.
Should someone sell their kidney?
(Medicine, Cambridge)
Ever since organ transplants first became common in the 1960s, there has been a problem sourcing suitable donor organs. An estimated 170,000 people are on the waiting list for kidneys in the USA and Europe, and each year another 5,000 join the queue. Most kidneys for transplant come from dead donors, but since people can usually survivewith just one of their kidneys, they can also come from living donors – about 1 in 10 in the UK do and 1 in 4 in the USA. Kidneys from living donors are generally in better condition, and there is a better chance of finding a good match, especially among relatives. Taking a kidney from a living donor also avoids the horrible unpredictability of waiting for someone with a compatible kidney to be killed accidentally or die quickly without damage to the organ.
The problem is, of course, that not everyone has a generous relative sitting by, which is why desperate kidney sufferers in the world’s richer countries may look for a donor in the developing world. And with kidneys fetching well over $5,000, many poor people in countries like Pakistan and Colombia have been tempted to sell one of their kidneys. Most governments try to stop the trade in organs, but kidney sufferers in rich countries are desperate for health, and people in poor countries are desperate for money, so the trade continues on the black market, even where it isn’t allowed legally. At least 6,000 kidneys are traded around the world each year. In Pakistan, there are many villages where more than two out of five people have just a single kidney.
Those who partake in the trade justify it like this. The kidney sufferer is very ill, and if someone else can help them by donating a kidney, why shouldn’t they? And if the kidney sufferer is rich and the donor very poor, why shouldn’t they show their gratitude with a generous cash payment? That way, two people benefit: the recipient whogets his new kidney and a new lease of life, and the donor who gets a cash payment that transforms his life and maybe that of his entire family. According to David Holcberg of the Ayn Rand centre, it’s a matter of self-determination: ‘The right to buy an organ is part of your right to life. The right to life is the right to take all actions a rational being
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