Got some links for ya

An article on grounding, a critique of panentheism, a podcast on Jordan Peterson.

My article (co-authored with Enric Gel) Is Grounding Essentially Ordered Causation appears in this month’s issue of The Review of Metaphysics. (Apologies: This isn’t open access, but I’ll be covering the content of this article on the podcast later this month.)

Here’s the abstract:

This article aims to test the hypothesis that metaphysical grounding is an instance of essentially ordered (or per se) causation, a species of causation identified by medieval philosophers and theologians like Aquinas and Scotus, but largely forgotten from then on. The article reviews some of the consensus of grounding theorists on the nature of metaphysical grounding (or ontological dependence) compared to some of the crucial characteristics of essentially ordered causal series as articulated by scholastic and neo-Aristotelian philosophers then and now. We emphasize their similarities, which we hold is enough to render strongly plausible the thesis that grounding is essentially ordered causation (G = EOC). Moreover, we highlight the potential benefits of this identification both for theories of grounding and EOC, especially as it concerns matters of fundamentality. Finally, we consider the limits of our hypothesis, identifying areas for future research.

Readers of this blog might be interested in what we contend the implication of this hypothesis is for questions concerning an infinite regress of (in this case, deep metaphysical) causes. In short, we we argue that grounding series are either necessarily terminating or non-explanatory.

In other news, Fr. James Dominic Rooney recently joined on the podcast to talk through his article critiquing panentheism.

And Jake Buscher had me on his podcast again, this time to discuss Jordan Peterson’s attitude toward God. We got into some fun stuff.

Finally, I should mention the Kindle version of The Best Argument for God is currently priced at $9.99. While I personally much prefer the paperback, that price is certainly attractive!