Divine Universal Causality and the Particular Problem of Hell: A Quiescence Solution

Scientia et Fides 9 (2):181-199 (2021)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

I call the Particular Problem of Hell the problem of explaining why God allows a certain set of created persons to populate hell, as opposed to allowing some other set of created persons to do so. This paper proposes a solution to PPH on behalf of proponents of Divine Universal Causality — the view, roughly, that God causes everything distinct from himself to exist at any time it exists. Despite initial appearances, I argue, proponents of DUC can adopt a version of the popular approach to the Problem of Hell sometimes called the Choice Model. My proposal is based upon Eleonore Stump's Thomistically-inspired notion that our wills can enter a state of "quiescence" with respect to a given option. While proponents of DUC will, I argue, most likely find Stump's own quiescence-based solution to PPH unacceptable, there is a way of modifying her approach that renders it compatible with God's causing everything distinct from himself, including the free choices of his creatures.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 91,219

External links

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

Through your library

Similar books and articles

A Craigian Theodicy of Hell.Charles Seymour - 2000 - Faith and Philosophy 17 (1):103-115.
The “Dual Sources Account,” Predestination, and the Problem of Hell.Adam Noel Wood - 2021 - European Journal for Philosophy of Religion 13 (1):103-127.
Malebranche's Theodicy.Andrew G. Black - 1997 - Journal of the History of Philosophy 35 (1):27-44.
Non-Identity Theodicy.Vincent Raphael Vitale - 2017 - Philosophia Christi 19 (2):269-90.
How Problematic is an Unpopulated Hell?Alex R. Gillham - 2020 - Forum Philosophicum: International Journal for Philosophy 25 (1):107-121.
New Essays on Leibniz’s Theodicy.Larry M. Jorgensen & Samuel Newlands (eds.) - 2014 - Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Can God Condemn One to an Afterlife in Hell?Raymond D. Bradley - 2015 - In Keith Augustine & Michael Martin (eds.), The Myth of an Afterlife: The Case Against Life After Death. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 441-471.

Analytics

Added to PP
2021-09-24

Downloads
27 (#557,528)

6 months
9 (#250,037)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

The Nature of Necessity.Alvin Plantinga - 1974 - Oxford, England: Clarendon Press.
.Eleonore Stump (ed.) - 1993 - Cornell Univ Pr.
Aquinas.Eleonore Stump - 2003 - New York: Routledge.
The Problem of Evil.Eleonore Stump - 1985 - Faith and Philosophy 2 (4):392-423.
Middle Knowledge and the Problem of Evil.Robert Merrihew Adams - 1977 - American Philosophical Quarterly 14 (2):109-117.

View all 12 references / Add more references