Causation and the Logical Impossibility of a Divine Cause

Philosophical Topics 24 (1):169-191 (1996)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

I think that virtually all contemporary theists, agnostics and atheists believe this is logically possible. Indeed, the main philosophical tradition from Plato to the present has assumed that the sentence, "God is the originating cause of the universe", does not express a logical contradiction, even though many philosophers have argued that this sentence either is synthetic and meaningless (e.g., the logical positivists) or states a synthetic and a priori falsehood (e.g., Kant and Moore), or states a synthetic and a posteriori falsehood (e.g., contemporary defenders of the probabilistic argument from evil).

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 103,401

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

Divine Causation.Richard T. McClelland & Robert J. Deltete - 2000 - Faith and Philosophy 17 (1):3-25.
Denial of the Synthetic "A Priori".Oliver A. Johnson - 1960 - Philosophy 35 (134):255 - 264.
Redefining the Synthetic a Priori.Claudia Cavaliere - 2022 - European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy 14 (2).
Denial of the Synthetic A Priori.Oliver A. Johnson - 1960 - Philosophy 35 (134):255-264.
Analytic–Synthetic and A Priori–A Posteriori.Brian Weatherson - 2016 - In Herman Cappelen, Tamar Gendler & John Hawthorne, The Oxford Handbook of Philosophical Methodology. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. pp. 231-248.
The Logical Paradox of Causation.Yuval Steinitz - 2001 - Journal of Philosophical Research 26:223-227.
Divine Causation and Analogy.Paul Helm - 2022 - Roczniki Filozoficzne 70 (1):107-120.
Kant's theory of definition.Lewis White Beck - 1956 - Philosophical Review 65 (2):179-191.
Once more on analytic vs. synthetic.Pavel Materna - 2007 - Logic and Logical Philosophy 16 (1):3-43.

Analytics

Added to PP
2010-12-22

Downloads
175 (#139,625)

6 months
23 (#127,653)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?