Molinism's kryptonite
Counterfactuals and circumstantial luck
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10344358 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Andre Leo Rusavuk (0000-0002-9984-7281, University of Birmingham, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 75 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 1121-1141 |
| Publication date | 2024-05-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Philosophical Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0031-8094 • E-ISSN: 1467-9213 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1093/pq/pqae038 |
| OpenAlex | W4396592222 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 34 |
According to Molinism, logically prior to his creative decree, God knows via middle knowledge the truth value of the counterfactuals or conditionals of creaturely freedom (CFs) and thus what any possible person would do in any given circumstance. Critics of Molinism have pointed out that the Molinist God gets lucky that the CFs allow him to actualize either a world of his liking or even a good-enough world at all. In this paper, I advance and strengthen the popular critique in two ways. First, I specify the kind of luck to which God is subject, which is circumstantial moral luck. Second, and more importantly, I argue that exposure to this luck is problematic because something external to God and beyond his control determines the degree of praiseworthiness he deserves in relevant possible worlds. My main contention is that divine subjection to circumstantial moral luck raises the theoretical costs of Molinism
Archaeology · Circumstantial evidence · Counterfactual conditional · Counterfactual thinking · Epistemology · Luck · History · Philosophical Ethics and Theory · Philosophy · Philosophy and Theoretical Science · Psychoanalysis, Philosophy, and Politics
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |