Divine Universal Causality and the Particular Problem of Hell: A Quiescence Solution

Scientia et Fides 9 (2):181-199 (2021)
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Abstract

I call the Particular Problem of Hell the problem of explaining why God allows a certain set of created persons to populate hell, as opposed to allowing some other set of created persons to do so. This paper proposes a solution to PPH on behalf of proponents of Divine Universal Causality — the view, roughly, that God causes everything distinct from himself to exist at any time it exists. Despite initial appearances, I argue, proponents of DUC can adopt a version of the popular approach to the Problem of Hell sometimes called the Choice Model. My proposal is based upon Eleonore Stump's Thomistically-inspired notion that our wills can enter a state of "quiescence" with respect to a given option. While proponents of DUC will, I argue, most likely find Stump's own quiescence-based solution to PPH unacceptable, there is a way of modifying her approach that renders it compatible with God's causing everything distinct from himself, including the free choices of his creatures.

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Adam Wood
Wheaton College, Illinois

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References found in this work

The Nature of Necessity.Alvin Plantinga - 1974 - Oxford, England: Clarendon Press.
.Eleonore Stump (ed.) - 1993 - Cornell Univ Pr.
Aquinas.Eleonore Stump - 2003 - New York: Routledge.
The Problem of Evil.Eleonore Stump - 1985 - Faith and Philosophy 2 (4):392-423.
Middle Knowledge and the Problem of Evil.Robert Merrihew Adams - 1977 - American Philosophical Quarterly 14 (2):109-117.

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