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    Aquinas's doctrine of instrumental causation holds that s... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→All agents other than God are only metaphorically agents

    Aquinas's doctrine of instrumental causation holds that secondary causes genuinely produce effects proper to their nature, not merely metaphorically.

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    Reasons For

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    • 1.Secondary causes exhibit consistent causal powers matching their nature (fire burns, eyes see), not arbitrary divine action.
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    • 2.Real causal powers in creatures preserve divine omnipotence through instrumental mediation, avoiding occasionalism's denial of creaturely agency.
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    • 3.Scripture and observation both affirm creatures act according to their kinds, suggesting genuine rather than merely apparent causation.
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    Reasons Against

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    Reason against
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    • 1.If God sustains all being moment-to-moment, secondary causation may be metaphysically reducible to divine action regardless of nominalism.
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    • 2.The distinction between genuine and metaphorical causation is unclear when God's primary causation could fully explain all effects.
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    Moral Responsibility1 linkedDivine Attributes1 linked

    Related

    All agents other than God are only metaphorically agentsIf God sustains all being moment-to-moment, secondary causation may be metaphysi...Real causal powers in creatures preserve divine omnipotence through instrumental...Scripture and observation both affirm creatures act according to their kinds, su...
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    Secondary causes exhibit consistent causal powers matching their nature (fire bu...The distinction between genuine and metaphorical causation is unclear when God's...

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    2 (1 for, 1 against)
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