Meta Ontology

I aim to synthesize two issues within theistic metaphysics. The first concerns the metaphysics of creaturely properties and, more specifically, the nature of unshareable properties, or tropes. The second concerns the metaphysics of providence and, more specifically, the way in which God sustains creatures, or sustenance. I propose that creaturely properties, understood as what I call modifier tropes, are identical with divine acts of sustenance, understood as acts of property-conferral. I argue that this proposal is attractive because it connects trope theory and the doctrine of sustenance in a mutually enhancing way. Taking modifier tropes to be divine acts helps trope theory overcome some of its weaknesses and offers an understanding of divine sustenance that avoids both deism and occasionalism.