Theism, Possible Worlds, and the Multiverse

Philosophical Studies 147 (3):355 - 368 (2010)
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Abstract

God is traditionally taken to be a perfect being, and the creator and sustainer of all that is. So, if theism is true, what sort of world should we expect? To answer this question, we need an account of the array of possible worlds from which God is said to choose. It seems that either there is (a) exactly one best possible world; or (b) more than one unsurpassable world; or (c) an infinite hierarchy of increasingly better worlds. Influential arguments for atheism have been advanced on each hierarchy, and these jointly comprise a daunting trilemma for theism. In this paper, I argue that if theism is true, we should expect the actual world to be a multiverse comprised of all and only those universes which are worthy of creation and sustenance. I further argue that this multiverse is the unique best of all possible worlds. Finally, I explain how his unconventional view bears on the trilemma for theism.

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KIaas Kraay
Ryerson University

Citations of this work

In Defence of No Best World.Daniel Rubio - 2020 - Australasian Journal of Philosophy (4):811-825.
Against Multiverse Theodicies.Bradley Monton - 2010 - Philo 13 (2):113-135.
The Contingency of Creation and Divine Choice.Fatema Amijee - 2022 - Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion 10:289-300.
An Anselmian Approach to Divine Simplicity.Katherin A. Rogers - 2020 - Faith and Philosophy 37 (3):308-322.

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References found in this work

On the Plurality of Worlds.David K. Lewis - 1986 - Malden, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell.
The Nature of Necessity.Alvin Plantinga - 1974 - Oxford, England: Clarendon Press.
On the Plurality of Worlds.David Lewis - 1986 - Revue Philosophique de la France Et de l'Etranger 178 (3):388-390.
.R. G. Swinburne - 1989 - Cambridge University Press.
The existence of God.Richard Swinburne - 1979 - New York: Oxford University Press.

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