God and necessity

Oxford: Oxford University Press (2012)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Brian Leftow offers a theist theory of necessity and possibility, and a new sort of argument for God's existence. He argues that necessities of logic and mathematics are determined by God's nature, but that it is events in God's mind - his imagination and choice - that account for necessary truths about concrete creatures.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,221

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Chapters

Modality and the divine nature

This chapter surveys the options for constructing a theist modal metaphysics. It discusses the views of Plotinus, Aquinas, Leibniz and Descartes, rejecting arguments for these views and criticizing Aquinas at some length.

Against deity theories

The dominant — indeed the almost universal—sort of theist modal metaphysics bases all of modal truth somehow on the content of deity. This chapter provides an extended argument that we should reject this sort of view if there is a viable alternative.

The role of deity

This chapter begins construction of an alternative to the ‘deity theory’ tradition by considering what the divine nature would contribute to the view. It explains the concept of a secular truth as a preliminary to providing a modal metaphysics that applies to them. In particular, it argues... see more

Similar books and articles

Theism and modal realism.Paul Sheehy - 2006 - Religious Studies 42 (3):315-328.
Modal theistic arguments.Graham Oppy - 1993 - Sophia 32 (2):17-24.
Abduction and Modality.Stephen Biggs - 2010 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 83 (2):283-326.
Modals without scales.Amy Rose Deal - 2011 - Language 87 (3):559-585.
The necessity of God's existence.Daniel von Wachter - 2002 - In A. Beckermann & C. Nimtz (eds.), Argument & Analyse. Mentis. pp. 516-525, http://epub.ub.uni-muen.
Understanding and Essence.Anand Jayprakash Vaidya - 2010 - Philosophia 38 (4):811-833.
Burdens of Proof.James Hardy - 1996 - Journal of Philosophical Research 21:321-330.

Analytics

Added to PP
2013-03-25

Downloads
143 (#120,088)

6 months
6 (#201,364)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Brian Leftow
Rutgers University - New Brunswick

Citations of this work

No New Solutions to the Logical Problem of the Trinity.Beau Branson - 2019 - Journal of Applied Logics 6 (6):1051-1092.
God and Other Necessary Beings.Matthew Davidson - 2019 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Giving up omnipotence.Scott Hill - 2014 - Canadian Journal of Philosophy 44 (1):97-117.

View all 43 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references