Skip to content
Carmelics
TopicsThinkersChangesContributorsLoading account…

    Carmelics

    A reasoning platform. Break down any belief into clear reasons, explore both sides, and weigh the evidence honestly.

    Navigate

    • Topics
    • Search
    • Recent Changes
    • Contribute
    • How It Works
    • Glossary
    • Thinkers
    • Contributors
    • About
    • Statistics
    • Terms
    • Privacy

    Database

    Statements
    —
    Perspectives
    —
    Topics
    —

    Press ? for keyboard shortcuts

    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
    42
    Home/Original/inverse
    See Original
    Inverse View

    It is not the case that Theistic intuitions support the claim that God's creative volitions are necessarily a causally sufficient condition (in the weak sense) of the existence of every other concrete object.

    ?Set your confidence on the premises below to see your aggregate.

    Reasons For

    2 perspectives
    Reason for 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Occasionalism (Malebranche) and concurrentism (Aquinas, Suárez) both deny that divine volition alone is causally sufficient, requiring either creature cooperation or secondary causes.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.The 'weak sense' of causal sufficiency is under-specified: if other necessary conditions are permitted, God's volition may be merely one among several jointly sufficient causes, not a privileged one.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.Theistic intuitions across traditions are deeply divided on whether God creates ex nihilo through discrete acts of will or through emanation, making 'theistic intuitions' too heterogeneous to ground the claim.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reason for 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Spinoza's substance monism entails that finite modes follow necessarily from God's nature without distinct creative volitions, undermining the volition-causation model.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.If God's nature necessitates all existing things, then 'creative volitions' are either redundant or collapse into God's essence, not discrete causal events.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Theistic intuitions clearly support the necessity of God's creative volitions as a causal condition of every other concrete object's existence.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.The weak sense of causal sufficiency (where other necessary conditions may also be required) is compatible with theistic intuitions.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Next step

    Based on where you are in your exploration

    Strongest counterpoint
    Explore the most compelling reason on the other side.