God and the Best

Faith and Philosophy 13 (3):311-328 (1996)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

The paper reaches two main conclusions: Firstly, even if there are one or more possible worlds than which there are none better, God cannot actualise any of them. Secondly, if there are possible worlds which God can actualise, and than which God can actualise none better, then God must actualise one of them. The paper is neutral between compatibilist and libertarian views of creaturely freedom. The paper's main ideas have been used, with modifications, in my book "God, the Best, and Evil" (OUP 2008).

Categories

Keywords

Reprint years

ISBN(s)

07397046

DOI

10.5840/faithphil19961336

Links

PhilArchive

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

My notes

Similar books and articles

God Laughs: And Other Surprising Things You Never Knew About Him.Charles Billingsley - 2009 - Regal Books. Edited by Elmer L. Towns.
God Laughs: And Other Surprising Things You Never Knew About Him.Elmer L. Towns - 2009 - Regal Books. Edited by Charles Billingsley.
God, the Best, and Evil.Bruce Langtry - 2008 - Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Morality, God, and Possible Worlds: A Paper Inspired By Richard Swinburne's 'God and Morality'.Jacek Wojtysiak - 2010 - European Journal for Philosophy of Religion 2 (1):199 - 208.
Possible worlds and the beauty of God.Mark Ian Thomas Robson - 2010 - Religious Studies.
What is God like?Marie-Agnès Gaudrat - 1992 - Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press. Edited by Ulises Wensell.
The fidelity of betrayal: towards a church beyond belief.Peter Rollins - 2008 - Brewster, Mass.: Paraclete Press.
Creation, Actualization and God's Choice Among Possible Worlds.Klaas J. Kraay - 2008 - Philosophy Compass 3 (4):854-872.
Am I Divine?Benedikt Göcke - 2010 - New Blackfriars 91 (1034):386-400.
Who is God?Carolyn Nystrom - 1993 - Chicago: Moody Press. Edited by Eira Reeves.
Could There Be More Than One God?Richard Swinburne - 1988 - Faith and Philosophy 5 (3):225-241.
God the what?: what our metaphors for God reveal about our beliefs in God.Carolyn Stahl Bohler - 2008 - Woodstock, VT: SkyLight Paths.
Knowledge of God in Leviathan.Stewart Duncan - 2005 - History of Philosophy Quarterly 22 (1):31-48.

Analytics

Added to PP
2011-01-09

Downloads
146 (#124,755)

6 months
50 (#81,612)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Bruce Langtry
University of Melbourne

Citations of this work

William L. Rowe’s A Priori Argument For Atheism.Klaas J. Kraay - 2005 - Faith and Philosophy 22 (2):211-234.
Divine freedom.William Rowe - 2008 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

View all 7 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

Why Only the Best Is Good Enough.Stephen Grover - 1988 - Analysis 48 (4):224 -.
Duty and Divine Goodness.Thomas V. Morris - 1984 - American Philosophical Quarterly 21 (3):261 - 268.
The problem of divine exclusivity.Jeff Jordan - 1993 - International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 33 (2):89 - 101.

Add more references