Alimi's New Paper on the Problem of Divine Domination

Alimi, Toni. Divine domination. Religious Studies (2025), 1–19. doi:10.1017/S0034412525100917

Abstract: This article develops the problem of divine domination. Classical theism describes God as essentiallyall-powerful, sovereign, personal, omnipresent, and a se. If such a being exists, then he dominates humans in virtue of his essential properties. Since dominative relationships are unjust, the divinehuman relationship is unjust. I reject solutions to this problem that appeal to humanity’s childlikeness or divine goodness, justice, or greatness. I conclude by gesturing towards what a solution to the problem might require.

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Necessary Existence is Not a Perfection

 ...is the title of Noel Saenz's new paper, now out in Synthese. Here's the abstract to whet your appetite:

According to many, necessary existence either is or follows from a perfection. There is something to this. Part of what makes or follows from something’s being impressive is its ontological durability: it has a strong grip on existence. But a necessarily existent being does not just have a strong grip on existence, but a grip that cannot be loosened! So it looks like necessary existence either is, or follows from, a perfection. In this paper, I argue otherwise and so argue that necessary existence neither is, nor follows from, a perfection. And if this is so, then not only is the relationship between necessary existence and perfection not what many take it to be, but work on God (or a good deal of it) needs to be reconceived.

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