Was Arminius an unwitting determinist? Another look at Arminius’s modal logic

Eef Dekker argues, on the basis of a letter from Jacob Arminius to Johannes Uytenbogaert in 1598, that Arminius’s modal logic commits him to determinism. In this essay, I revisit Arminius’s modal logic. I grant that Dekker may be correct in his analysis of this letter and its contents, but I argue that Arminius’s musings in this letter are not representative of his mature thought. I argue that Arminius significantly alters his views, and that with a bit of further correction Arminius’s position can avoid determinism.