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Chapter 4 - Fatalism and Some Varieties of Contrastive Explanation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 September 2022

By
Alexander R. Pruss
Edited by
Peter Furlong  and
Leigh Vicens
Peter Furlong
Affiliation:
Valencia College, Florida
Leigh Vicens
Affiliation:
Augustana University
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Summary

The principle of sufficient reason (PSR) says that every contingent truth has an explanation. It is widely thought that if one strengthens "explanation" to "contrastive explanation," then the PSR entails modal fatalism – the view that no proposition is contingent. In a theistic context, this would force full theological determinism: of creaturely behavior by God and of divine behavior by the divine nature. I discuss about a dozen accounts of what could be meant by “contrastive explanation.” Some of them support these arguments and some do not. I argue, however, that we should not extend the PSR to contrastive explanation in any of the senses given.

Keywords

principle of sufficient reasonfatalismmodalitycontrastive explanationfree willlibertarianismtheological determinism
Type
Chapter
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Theological Determinism
New Perspectives
 , pp. 65 - 80
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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