God, Necessity, and Necessities

In this essay, we discuss the relationship between God and the modal profile of the states of affairs. There is a well-known dilemma about this relationship: both the view that the necessity and the possibility of the states of affairs are dependent on God and the view that they are not dependent have unpalatable consequences. If the necessity of the states of affairs depends on God, then those states of affairs do not really seem necessary. By contrast, if the necessity of the states of affairs does not depend on God, then God is not the fundamental entity. However, the fundamentality of God is a cornerstone of classical theism. We present a bi-modal framework that solves the dilemma, by distinguishing between global and local necessities. This framework also proves useful for solving other dilemmas such as the problem whether God can or cannot do evil actions.