Horrendous-Difference Disabilities, Resurrected Saints, and the Beatific Vision: A Theodicy
Department of Philosophy, University of North Carolina, Asheville, NC 28804, USA
Religions 2018, 9(2), 52; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel9020052
Received: 9 January 2018 / Revised: 2 February 2018 / Accepted: 2 February 2018 / Published: 9 February 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Theodicy)
Marilyn Adams rightly pointed out that there are many kinds of evil, some of which are horrendous. I claim that one species of horrendous evil is what I call horrendous-difference disabilities. I distinguish two subspecies of horrendous-difference disabilities based in part on the temporal relation between one’s rational moral wishing for a certain human function F and its being thwarted by intrinsic and extrinsic conditions. Next, I offer a theodicy for each subspecies of horrendous-difference disability. Although I appeal to some claims made by Marilyn Adams for this theodicy, I reject one particular claim. I deny that one must be aware that one participates in a horrendous evil when the horrific event occurs. To develop this point and its relevance for a theodicy for horrendous-difference disabilities, I engage with Andrew Chignell’s work on infant suffering. In doing so, I show that what partly motivates the claim is a time-bias, i.e., near-bias. By rejecting this time-bias, I show how it is possible, given post-mortem life, for persons with profound cognitive disabilities to participate in horrendous evils and how these might be defeated by God.
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Keywords:
theodicy; problem of evil; horrendous evil; disability; rational moral wish satisfaction; Marilyn McCord Adams
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MDPI and ACS Style
Williams, S.M. Horrendous-Difference Disabilities, Resurrected Saints, and the Beatific Vision: A Theodicy. Religions 2018, 9, 52. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel9020052
AMA Style
Williams SM. Horrendous-Difference Disabilities, Resurrected Saints, and the Beatific Vision: A Theodicy. Religions. 2018; 9(2):52. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel9020052
Chicago/Turabian StyleWilliams, Scott M. 2018. "Horrendous-Difference Disabilities, Resurrected Saints, and the Beatific Vision: A Theodicy" Religions 9, no. 2: 52. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel9020052
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