Document Type : Biannual Journal

Authors

• Saeed Moghadas
• ahmad behashti

Abstract

Are ‘Divine freedom’ and ‘necessity of His will and action’ compatible? There are two different answers to this theological question: compatibilism, which confirms the compatibility of these doctrines, and incompatibilism, which claims that those beliefs are incompatible. Compatibilists advocate their position through two distinct approaches; the first approach presents five reasons that why necessity of divine will and action are consistent with His freedom, while the second, without arguing directly, claims that incompatibilism implies attribution of contingency to God, so accepting compatibilism is the only way to avoid such a false consequence. These two approaches, however, have not been immune from the criticisms of contemporary incompatibilists. In this article I want to explain compatibilist views and review their contemporary criticisms.

Keywords

• necessarily willing
• necessarily provident
• coercion
• inner determination
• impulses identical to essence
• agent-by-self-manifestation