Facing the Problem of the Divine Action in Nature: The Superiority of Emergentism over the Thomistic and Quantum Perspectives

Abstract

The main question in the subject of the divine action in nature is how God, as an immaterial being, relates to nature as a material being. In recent years, some have sought to address this issue by relying on the metaphysics and theology of Thomas Aquinas, and some by appealing to quantum indeterminism as the two mainstream views. A third group has addressed this issue based on emergentism theory. Emergentists have tried to solve the problem of divine action through a new theory of causality. They search for this theory of causality in the relationship between the natural objects that modern science deals with. The other characteristic of emergentism is the monistic approach, therein, while rejecting the substance dualism, does not fall into physicalism. In addition to explaining the emergentism approach, we argue in this paper that emergentism has more explanatory power than the two competing perspectives to solve the problem of divine action. The main argument in explaining its advantage over quantum's view is that emergentists do not provide a temporary answer due to its reliance on the metaphysics of science. In the face of the Thomistic view, the most crucial advantage of emergentism is a more precise interpretation of the laws of nature, which is rooted in the metaphysics of science. However, emergentism itself has been criticized, especially for the taking of panentheism theology.

Keywords

• divine action in nature
• emergentism
• thomas aquinas
• quantum mechanics
• determinism