Gastvortrag von Prof. Dr. Simon Maria Kopf (ITI Catholic University, Trumau): „Reframing the Divine Action Debate: An Argument against Theo-Physical Incompatibilism“ [Einladung]

Seminarraum VI der Theologischen Fakultät (Karl-Rahner-Platz 3, 1. OG)

In this lecture, Simon Maria Kopf will present an argument against theo-physical incompatibilism – the view that just as human (libertarian) free action presupposes causal indeterminism, so, too, does divine action in the world presuppose causal indeterminism – as one of the core theoretical commitments of a wide range of theories in the divine action debate. Drawing on Thomas Aquinas’ theory of secondary causation, he will then present an alternative according to which divine and creaturely action increase in direct, and not in inverse, proportion. The argument is part of his new book “Reframing Providence: New Perspectives from Aquinas on the Divine Action Debate” (Oxford University Press 2023).

Simon Maria Kopf is Associate Professor of Fundamental Theology at ITI Catholic University and Research Fellow at Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford. Dr. Kopf holds degrees in Theology, Philosophy, and Science and Religion from the Universität Innsbruck and the University of Edinburgh, and a DPhil from the University of Oxford. In 2023, he started a new research project on ‘Alternative Concepts of God and the Problem of Unconceived Alternatives’. He was recently awarded the Expanded Reason Award 2023.

Select Publications: Reframing Providence: New Perspectives from Aquinas on the Divine Action Debate (OUP 2023); Vorsehung und Handeln Gottes: Analytische und kontinentale Perspektiven im Dialog, co-editor (Herder 2023); Divine and Human Providence: Philosophical, Psychological and Theological Approaches, co-editor (Routledge 2021).