Title
Transubstantiation, Tropes and Truthmakers
Department/School
Philosophy
Date
2012
Document Type
Article
Keywords
philosophical theology, Catholic dogma, transubstantiation, St. Thomas Aquinas
DOI
DOI: 10.5840/acpq_2012_4
Abstract
This article addresses a difficult case at the intersection of philosophical theology and truthmaker theory. I show that three views, together, lead to difficulties in providing truthmakers for truths of contingent predication, such as that the bread is white. These three views are: the Catholic dogma of transubstantiation, a standard truthmaker theory, and a trope (or accident) view of properties. I present and explain each of these three views, at each step noting their connections to the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas. After presenting the three views, I show why they entail a difficulty for providing truthmakers for truths of contingent predication, drawing on two cases that are not impossible, for all we know. I then present four ways that one can respond to this difficulty, afterward noting some shortcomings of those responses.
Published in
American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Citation/Other Information
Pawl, T.J. (2012). Transubstantiation, tropes and truthmakers. The American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, 86(1), 71-96.