 For instance, Vallicella has argued in favor of an external unifying operator that connects a fact’s constituents and brings facts into existence. This external unifier U is described as a “metaphysical agent” that acts as an “existence maker” for facts (Vallicella 2000: 250); it does so due to “the power of contingent self-determination”, i.e., it has “the power to contingently determine itself as operating upon its operand” (Vallicella 2000: 256). In characterizing U in this way, Vallicella is trying to ensure both that the connection between U and what it unifies remains contingent, and that such unity is grounded in U itself (out of worry about the infinite regress). The only way that he can see U fulfill both these roles is by construing it “along the lines of God or a transcendental consciousness” (Vallicella 2000: 256). The trouble with this reply to Bradleyean arguments is, of course, that the god-like creating role of the external unifier U remains quite murky and it seems to bring in consciousness into both the operator itself as well as the creation of states of affairs.