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Explaining counterfactuals of freedom

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 September 2013

ALEXANDER R. PRUSS  and
JOSHUA L. RASMUSSEN
ALEXANDER R. PRUSS
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Baylor University, Waco, TX 76798, USA e-mail: alexanderpruss@baylor.edu
JOSHUA L. RASMUSSEN
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Azusa Pacific University, Azusa, CA 91702, USA e-mail: jrasmussen@apu.edu
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Abstract

Counterfactuals of creaturely freedom (CCFs) are notoriously puzzling. One puzzle has to do with truth-making: we wonder how any CCFs could be true prior to the existence of all creatures. Another, less addressed puzzle has to do with truth-explaining: what antecedent conditions or facts might explain a given CCF? The usual answer to the ‘explanation’ question is that true CCFs are brute: nothing explains them. We motivate an alternative answer by arguing that there can be an explanation of CCFs if there can be an explanation of free actions. Our argument reveals that theoretical frameworks, such as Molinism, that make use of CCFs do not automatically carry an explanatory cost.

Type
Articles
Information
Religious Studies , Volume 50 , Issue 2 , June 2014 , pp. 193 - 198
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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