Michael Dummett’s “Bringing about the Past” presents a version of this argument which concludes that taking precautions during an air raid is either superfluous or ineffective. For 10 points each:
[10m] Cicero’s On Fate famously discusses what argument for fatalism in constructive dilemma form which purportedly demonstrates that every action is futile?
ANSWER: Lazy Argument [or Idle Argument]
[10e] Gottfried Leibniz criticized the Lazy Argument in this 1710 book, which attempted to solve the problem of evil. Voltaire’s novel Candide satirizes this book’s contention that “we live in the best of all possible worlds.”
ANSWER: Théodicée (“tay-oh-dee-SAY”) [or Theodicy; or Essais de Théodicée sur la bonté de Dieu, la liberté de l’homme et l’origine du mal; or Essays of Theodicy on the Goodness of God, the Freedom of Man and the Origin of Evil]
[10h] Medieval philosophers posited that this specific attribute of God entailed fatalism. Molinists like Alvin Plantinga attempt to solve the problem posed by this attribute by ascribing “middle knowledge” to God.
ANSWER: divine foreknowledge [prompt on descriptions like “God knowing the future”]
<Caleb Kendrick, Philosophy>