Downward Causation

Many commentators see downward causation as a way to account for the manner in which God causes events in the world.I follow Barbour in expressing reservations with this approach. The trouble, as I see it, is examples of downward causation in nature have an identifiable 'top', and the energy distribution can be traced throughout the system. For example, in the case of a piston heating a gas volume, the top is the piston (or the operator depending on how the scenario is set up). In the case of the Universe, I'm not sure what to call the 'top' from where the causal chain would begin. I also don't see a physical connection from a 'top' to all the places God might act, along which we might observe energy redistribution.

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