Editing Omnipotence paradox (section)

== Overview ==
[[File:AverroesColor.jpg|thumb|Detail depicting [[Averroes]], who addressed the omnipotence paradox in the 12th century. From the 14th-century ''Triunfo de Santo Tomás'' by [[Andrea di Bonaiuto da Firenze|Andrea da Firenze (di Bonaiuto)]].]]
A common modern version of the omnipotence paradox is expressed in the question: "Can [an omnipotent being] create a stone so heavy that it cannot lift it?" This question generates a dilemma. The being can either create a stone it cannot lift, or it cannot create a stone it cannot lift. If the being {{em|can}} create a stone that it cannot lift, then it is not omnipotent because there is a weight threshold beyond its own power to lift. If the being {{em|cannot}} create a stone it cannot lift, then there is something it cannot create, and is therefore not omnipotent. In either case, the being is not omnipotent.<ref name="Savage, C. Wade 1967 pp. 74">Savage, C. Wade. "The Paradox of the Stone" ''Philosophical Review'', Vol. 76, No. 1 (Jan., 1967), pp. 74–79 {{doi|10.2307/2182966}}</ref> This modern version is referred to as the ''Paradox of the Stone''.

A related issue is whether the concept of "logically possible" is different for a world in which omnipotence exists than a world in which omnipotence does not exist.

The dilemma of omnipotence is similar to another classic paradox—the [[irresistible force paradox]]: "What would happen if an irresistible force were to meet an immovable object?" One response to this paradox is to disallow its formulation, by saying that if a force is irresistible, then by definition there is no immovable object; or conversely, if an immovable object exists, then by definition no force can be irresistible. Another response to this that the only way out of this paradox is if the irresistible force and immovable object never meet. However this does not hold up under scrutiny, because an object cannot in principle be immovable if a force exists that can in principle move it, regardless of whether the force and the object actually meet.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://curiosity.com/topics/the-omnipotence-paradox-has-puzzled-people-for-centuries-curiosity/|title=The Omnipotence Paradox Has Puzzled People For Centuries|website=curiosity.com|access-date=2018-02-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180210002939/https://curiosity.com/topics/the-omnipotence-paradox-has-puzzled-people-for-centuries-curiosity/|archive-date=2018-02-10|url-status=dead}}</ref>