Theistic modal realism and causal modal collapse

Abstract

Theistic modal realism argues for an extension of Lewis's modal realism capable of accommodating a theistic God. By affording elegant solutions to many atheistic challenges, the view is of great theoretical utility for the theist. However, it has been objected that within a Lewisian framework God cannot be causally efficacious on pain of collapsing intuitively distinct modal notions. In this article I explain why these worries are ill-founded and show how God's existence and causal power over the pluriverse can be consistently understood. If successful, the proposal offers a congenial theistic way to adopt modal realism and address the atheological problems.

Atheistic modal realism

“…I have no doubt that there are reasonable ways to modify Lewis to yield other theologies (e.g. Cameron (2009); Almeida (2017); Collier (2021); Maia (2021)). But here I focus exclusively on what I take to be Lewis's own theology.…”