Collapsing the modal collapse argument: On an invalid argument against divine simplicity

Analysis 79 (2):275-284 (2019)
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Abstract

One of the most pressing objections against Divine simplicity is that it entails what is commonly termed a ‘modal collapse’, wherein all contingency is eliminated and every true proposition is rendered necessarily true. In this paper, I show that a common form of this argument is in fact famously invalid and examine three ways in which the opponent of Divine simplicity might try to repair the argument. I conclude that there is no clear way of repairing the argument that does not beg the question against the doctrine of Divine simplicity.

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Christopher Tomaszewski
Belmont Abbey College

Citations of this work

The fruitful death of modal collapse arguments.Joseph C. Schmid - 2021 - International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 91 (1):3-22.
Divine Simplicity.William F. Vallicella - 2019 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Divine Simplicity and Modal Collapse: A Persistent Problem.Ryan Mullins & Shannon Byrd - 2022 - European Journal for Philosophy of Religion 14 (1):21-52.
Modal Collapse and Modal Fallacies: No Easy Defense of Simplicity.John William Waldrop - 2022 - American Philosophical Quarterly 59 (2):161-179.

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Naming and Necessity.Saul Kripke - 1980 - Critica 17 (49):69-71.
Panpsychism and Panprotopsychism.David Chalmers - 2013 - Amherst Lecture in Philosophy 8.

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