What question did this study set out to answer?

The aim is to analyze how God might express His will in nature using a dispositionalist approach.

June 26, 2026

Divine Action and Dispositionalism: The Inexplicability of Inconsistency

Key Points

The aim is to analyze how God might express His will in nature using a dispositionalist approach.
Examines three modes of divine action: altering dispositions, modifying manifestations, changing stimuli.
Rejects altering dispositions and changing stimuli as problematic or impossible.
Defends the modification of stimuli as coherent and supportive of dispositionalist metaphysics.
Supports the view that divine modification of stimuli maintains causal closure.
Demonstrates that limited access to stimuli complicates understanding phenomena as divine miracles or natural dispositions.
Reaffirms the coherence of dispositionalism in discussing divine action.

Abstract

This paper adopts a dispositionalist framework to analyze three possible modes through which God might bring about His will in nature: by altering dispositions, modifying manifestations, or changing stimuli. It rejects the first as philosophically problematic and the third as metaphysically impossible, defending the second—divine modification of stimuli—as the most coherent option. This view maintains causal closure and aligns with dispositionalist metaphysics. An epistemological argument further supports this stance, showing that our limited access to all possible stimuli prevents definitive judgments about whether novel phenomena reflect divine miracles or undiscovered natural dispositions.

Ask AI

Helpful

Bookmark

View Full Paper