Essays in Philosophy of Religion (Jostarhaye Falsafeh Din)

Divine Sovereignty and Necessary Truths, Brian Leftow against Deity Theories

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Mahdi Saatchi 1
Mohammad Sa’idi Mehr 2
rasoul rasoulipour 3

1 Assistant Professor of Islamic philosophy and theology. Shahdi Motahari University, Tehran, Iran

2 Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Tarbiat Modares University

3 Assistant professor Philosophy Department Kharazmi University

http://dx.doi.org/10.22034/rs.2021.34294.1413
Abstract
According to the Abrahamic religions, God is the absolute Ultimate reality. Metaphysical necessity confronts us with truths that are absolutely necessary and do not seem to say anything about God, such as "water = H2O". Here we encounter the Euthyphro dilemma, but not in the realm of ethics but in the realm of metaphysics; Are the necessary truths true because God has affirms them or God has affirms them because they themselves are true? In the first case, the absolute necessity of necessary truths is challenged, and in the second case, the absolute sovereignty and ultimacy of God is challenged. The main answer of the theologians to resolve this conflict is to base the necessary truths on the essence of God. Brian Leftow criticizes this approach, which he calls the "Deity theory," and argues that accepting these theories for all necessary truths requires the dependence of the divine essence on truths that are not about God and are merely about creatures. This article critically explains and analyzes Leftow's view.

Keywords

Divine Sovereignty
Divine Ultimacy
Necessary Truths
Deity Theories
Brian Leftow

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