Theological Theses · §2084 · Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu

Others distinguish absolute and conditional foreknowledge; the latter is the middle knowledge treated above

Others, however, use a twofold distinction here. The first is between absolute and conditional foreknowledge of future things. Absolute foreknowledge is that by which God foresees this or that as simply and really future.

Conditional foreknowledge is that by which God foresees not what is simply and absolutely future, but what would be future if this or that were in place. An example is the direction in which Adam's will would of its own accord lean and tend if it were created in such a state and these or those objects were put before it. This is the knowledge the schools call middle knowledge, which we dealt with at length in the preceding theses.

Latin

XXIV. Alii vero hic duplicem distinctionem adhibent. Et primo quidem inter praescientiam futurorum absolutam, & inter praescientiam futurorum conditionatam. Absoluta praescientia est, per quam Deus praevidet hoc, aut illud simpliciter & revera futurum. Praescientia vero conditionata est, per quam Deus praevidet, non quod est simpliciter & absolute futurum; sed quod futurum esset, si haec & illa ponerentur: exempli gratia, quo esset ultro inclinatura & propensura Adami voluntas, si in tali statu crearetur, & offerrentur ipsi haec & illa objecta. Quae est illa scientia quam mediam Scholae vocant, de qua praecedentibus Thesibus abunde egimus.

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