 First, if these moral states of affairs are basic, then of course their moral status must not be explained by appeal to other moral states of affairs, but that does not mean they must be necessary; they might be contingent, and have their moral status explained in some way other than an appeal to another moral state of affairs. It could be, for example, that the explanation of them appeals to a contingent nonmoral state of affairs plus some necessary state of affairs concerning a connection between that contingent nonmoral state of affairs and the moral state of affairs. Theological voluntarism would be an instance of this latter model. (For a discussion of a similar objection raised against theological voluntarism by Ralph Cudworth (1731), and a similar response on behalf of theological voluntarism, see Schroeder 2005.) 