Providence and Freedom: A Compatiblist Account. Part 2 – Semi-Compatiblism and Divine Sovereignty

2.1 Theological Terms
By meticulous providence it is meant that God’s control over creation is expansive and detailed. Commensurate with traditional Calvinistic thinking, every event, choice, and free action is predetermined by God. The divine decree is not an agent; it has no causal powers nor is it active [...]

Libertarianism, Compatibilism and Moral Responsiblity: A Philosophical Introduction to Available Models. Part 4

Part Four: Hierarchial and Semi-Compatibilism
1 Hierarchical Compatibilism
Hierarchical compatibilism is the classical style of compatibilism held by free will such theorist as Jonathan Edwards,[1] Suzan Wolf,[2] Gary Watson,[3] and Harry Frankfurt.[4] Frankfurt’s analysis has probably received in [...]

Libertarianism, Compatibilism and Moral Responsiblity: A Philosophical Introduction to Available Models. Part 3

Part 3 Alternative Possibilities, Moral Responsibility and Frankfurt Counterexamples:
 (Introducing the Philosophical Motivation for Compatibilism)
1. Alternative Possibilities and Moral Responsibility
In each of the libertarian accounts considered above the agent is pictured as the source of his own action. Not only that, great care is taken in these accounts to ensure that the way in which [...]

Libertarianism, Compatibilism and Moral Responsiblity: A Philosophical Introduction to Available Models. Part 2

Note: This set of posts attempts to take our readers to the next level in their understanding of compatibilist human freedom and divine sovereignty. It, therefore, assumes that the reader has read the two earlier posts on ‘Compatibilism and Evil’ as well as the introduction to divine sovereignty and human freedom or it assumes that [...]

Divine Soveriegnty and the Problem of Evil: A Compatibilist Approach

Many suggest that the problem of evil provides a singificant obstacle to a robust understanding of divine sovereignty. I disagree. Here are my thoughts:
 
Thomas Tracy suggests that the “incompatibilist is concerned that theological determinism both (a) denies certain great goods in human moral life and relation to God and (b) makes God the cause of [...]

Scripture, Sovereignty, Responsibility and Freewill

Two Views on Freedom: Compatiblism and Libertarianism
These two terms—compatiblism and libertarianism—designate two competing versions of human freedom. Compatiblism maintains that meticulous providence (also known as specific sovereignty)—the idea that God determines all things—is compatible with genuine human freedom. Those who adhere to a libertarian model of freedom hold that any version of meticulous providence will, [...]