omniscience

Omniscience is the state of having complete and unlimited knowledge about all things. The term comes from Latin omnis, “all,” and scientia, “knowledge.” In philosophy and theology, omniscience is most often discussed as a divine attribute, especially in classical theism, where God is described as perfectly knowledgeable about all truths, including the past, present, and future events, as well as the thoughts and intentions of every agent. Some accounts extend omniscience to knowledge of all possibilities, counterfactuals, and even all hypothetical worlds.

A key issue is whether such knowledge can coexist with free will. The traditional problem known as foreknowledge asks how an all-knowing being could know future free actions without determining them. Responses range from eternal or timeless knowledge (God knows all at once) to mechanisms such as middle knowledge or libertarian freedom, open theism, and process theology, each defining the scope and nature of divine knowledge differently.

Historically, omniscience is associated with monotheistic religions, though the exact formulation differs among Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In secular contexts, omniscience is used metaphorically or hypothetically to describe a hypothetical all-knowing observer or narrator in literature and thought experiments.

Critics question whether perfect knowledge is coherent with epistemic limits, or whether omniscience implies omnipotence. Proposals vary on whether omniscience entails perfect memory, infallible belief formation, and timeless awareness.