Paradise Lost: The Math Ain't Mathing
Random 4am Musings
There was a theory, or an idea really, that was popular in Milton's time which think was started by the Christian philosopher Augustine. This idea basically said that all of the Angels were created exactly equal and none of them were defective, yet some of them just chose to be bad because they had Free Will. Apparently that's what free will does; it gives you a choice and when you have a choice, you choose. There wasn't a reason behind why they chose what they did. It was just the fact that they had the ability to choose and so they did, and of course if there are choices not everyone is going to make the same one. It's a really simplistic explanation for the good versus evil argument: The answer is free will. End of story. This makes me profoundly uncomfortable because I feel like there needs to be a reason why a choice is made. Nobody just makes a choice because it exists.
But let's forget about that gaping flaw for a minute. I have deeper issues than this. According to this theory:
No Angel is inclined towards good more than any other angel.
No Angel is inclined towards bad more than any other angel.
No external pressures differentiate their choices.
THE ONLY POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS HERE ARE:
The outcomes are roughly 50/50.
The outcomes are completely random.
Something isn't actually equal.
Under identical circumstances, identical actors with no causal differences, the outcomes would have to be either roughly equivalent or completely random.
If the outcomes are completely random, then this isn't a meaningful choice. For example if this was a random mutation then it's not a choice. If it's really random then it can't be. A random mutation negates moral responsibility.
On the other hand, if something isn't actually equal, then it's not a sound argument. You can have that argument, but it's not this one.
This leaves only one possibility. The outcomes would have to be roughly equivalent. Both sides would have roughly equivalent armies. But this is not what we're told happened. According to the story, a third of the angels fell.
There is no explanation how under these circumstances 2/3 of them could choose one thing and 1/3 of them could choose another thing. The math doesn't math. You can't just use the "well I don't know, God did it.." argument. I'm not a fan of, “mysterious ways,” to begin with, but if you're going to lay out half of a rational argument you can't then just quit at the end and say it doesn't have to make sense because God.
Anyway, no point to my drunk musings. I'm actually a geographer. I just really love Milton. I'd love to hear anyone else's ideas.