Book contents
- Theological Determinism
- Theological Determinism
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Theological Determinism and Creation
- Chapter 2 Am I Here by Accident?
- Chapter 3 You Searched Me and Knew Me
- Chapter 4 Fatalism and Some Varieties of Contrastive Explanation
- Chapter 5 Divine Transcendence
- Chapter 6 The Incompatibility of Universal, Determinate Divine Action with Human Free Will
- Chapter 7 Natural Compatibilists Should Be Theological Compatibilists
- Chapter 8 An Argument for Theological Incompatibilism
- Chapter 9 Human Freedom and the Inevitability of Sin
- Chapter 10 Hard Theological Determinism and Divine Forgiveness Are Incompatible
- Chapter 11 Moral Luck, Free Will Theodicies, and Theological Determinism
- Chapter 12 Divine Determinism and Gratitude for Sins
- Chapter 13 The Problem of Trust
- Chapter 14 Toward a Reactive Attitudes Theodicy
- Chapter 15 Christ in Gethsemane
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 4 - Fatalism and Some Varieties of Contrastive Explanation
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 September 2022
- Theological Determinism
- Theological Determinism
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Theological Determinism and Creation
- Chapter 2 Am I Here by Accident?
- Chapter 3 You Searched Me and Knew Me
- Chapter 4 Fatalism and Some Varieties of Contrastive Explanation
- Chapter 5 Divine Transcendence
- Chapter 6 The Incompatibility of Universal, Determinate Divine Action with Human Free Will
- Chapter 7 Natural Compatibilists Should Be Theological Compatibilists
- Chapter 8 An Argument for Theological Incompatibilism
- Chapter 9 Human Freedom and the Inevitability of Sin
- Chapter 10 Hard Theological Determinism and Divine Forgiveness Are Incompatible
- Chapter 11 Moral Luck, Free Will Theodicies, and Theological Determinism
- Chapter 12 Divine Determinism and Gratitude for Sins
- Chapter 13 The Problem of Trust
- Chapter 14 Toward a Reactive Attitudes Theodicy
- Chapter 15 Christ in Gethsemane
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The principle of sufficient reason (PSR) says that every contingent truth has an explanation. It is widely thought that if one strengthens "explanation" to "contrastive explanation," then the PSR entails modal fatalism – the view that no proposition is contingent. In a theistic context, this would force full theological determinism: of creaturely behavior by God and of divine behavior by the divine nature. I discuss about a dozen accounts of what could be meant by “contrastive explanation.” Some of them support these arguments and some do not. I argue, however, that we should not extend the PSR to contrastive explanation in any of the senses given.
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- Theological DeterminismNew Perspectives, pp. 65 - 80Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022