Search Results (105)

In this essay I argue that there are necessarily true synthetic a priori moral propositions whose truth does not depend on the existence of God. To make my case, I appeal to an analogy with arithmetic truths such as 2 + 2 = 4 whose truth does not depend on the existence of God. I criticize views like Peter Railton’s that hold that moral truths are like truths about natural kinds such as water and heat, and non-cognitivists who hold that there are no robust moral truths. The point of my criticisms is to answer challenges to my view that there are necessarily true synthetic a priori moral propositions and, in the case of Railton, to block an argument by Robert Adams for a Divine Command Theory of ethics. Second, I argue by example that there can be conflicts between what is best for me and those for whom I care and what is morally required that cannot be reconciled by a theistic ethics. It can be rational to violate moral requirements that have the same contents as the commands of a loving God even if there would be most reason to adhere to those requirements IF God exists, just as it can be rational to leave your umbrella at home even if there would be most reason to take it IF it rained. This will be true regardless of whether the reason to adhere to God’s commands, IF God exists, is because our greatest good is the love of God (and that requires adhering to his commands) or because God will punish you if you do not and reward you if you do. The problem of evil is the primary reason to believe that God does not exist, and so to believe that there are no divine commands that there would be most reason to follow if God did exist. Full article

This essay confronts a classic tension: Christian tradition has long linked death in the world to human sin, yet evolutionary science reveals eons of predation, pain, and extinction preceding the emergence of Homo sapiens. In this essay, it is asked whether and how this history can be reconciled with belief in a good creation by the God who is love. After situating the stakes of this question with regard to evangelization, I examine Jesuit physicist Richard Pendergast’s ambitious proposal that fallen angels reshaped the material order and thereby seeded natural evil throughout evolutionary time. I set this account in critical conversation with major figures of the Christian tradition, including Augustine, but especially Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI) and Thomas Aquinas, who—while upholding the fall and the need for redemption—locate suffering and death within natural order of creation and compatible with the divine goodness rather than as anomalies. It will be seen that Ratzinger, for his part, proposes a way to preach and live a “creation and evolution” synthesis in which the cross and resurrection illuminate, rather than erase, the hard facts of biological history. The essay concludes by assessing the metaphysical feasibility, scientific plausibility, and theological fittingness of attributing foundational and large-scale natural processes to angelic causation, noting that it risks dualism and the eclipse of creation’s fundamental goodness. Full article

The contemporary debate over the problem of evil in analytic philosophy of religion is prone to focusing solely on the problem as an abstract dialectical issue that only concerns philosophers. However, this focus on abstract solutions to the problem of evil can seem to be less compelling in the face of personally experienced suffering, and it has given rise to newer approaches to the problem of evil, including anti-theodicy, which is the idea that theodicy itself is morally problematic. To remedy these issues, theists must turn to rhetoric to supplement theodicy. George Campbell’s view of rhetoric provides great insights into possible solutions, showing how including biblical narratives in theodicy can provide more comprehensive and compelling explanations for why God allows evil. Full article

In contemporary analytic philosophy of religion, the evil God challenge has been developed by several authors as a parody argument. Proponents of this challenge contend that, given the goods in our world, the hypothesis of an omnipotent, omniscient, omnimalevolent God or the Evil God is absurd. Similarly, they argue, we should conclude that the hypothesis of a good God is also absurd due to the evils present in our world. This paper argues that, with the aid of this challenge and other contemporary debates in the philosophy of religion, one can make the case that a reintroduction of Manichaeism into philosophy of religion is worthwhile. This argument will propose that, considering our total evidence, the Good-God and the Evil-God demonstrate a similar level of support. Additionally, under a reconstructed Manichaean hypothesis, good and evil are seen as mutually explanatory. Furthermore, the natural order can be understood within this framework. Therefore, the Manichaean hypothesis could serve as a viable alternative to monotheistic theism; it can account for the co-existence of good and evil and is compatible with the observed order in nature. Full article

This study leverages emotional arc modeling along with close reading to examine the Chinese Ye Xian, Perrault’s Cendrillon, and two Grimm versions. While computational modeling suggests that Cinderella tales share similar “recognition scaffolds,” their emotional architectures reflect distinct moral universes. Story peaks and valleys vary according to individual narrative resolutions to a universal problem of virtue unrecognized. Ye Xian descends to maximum negative sentiment when sacred bonds rupture, aligning with Buddhist-Daoist ethics in which divine-human reciprocity supersedes other bonds. Perrault’s arc offers surprising asymmetry: linguistic violence (Culcendron) defines every valley, while material transformation marks every peak. The 1812 Grimm tale oscillates between degradation and elevation with peaks and valleys suggestive of a syncretism between folk magic and Protestant theology. The 1857 version flattens into a rough semblance of Perrault’s emotional architecture, but peaks and valleys reflect Protestant, rather than aristocratic, values. These many shapes of Cinderella suggest fairy tales may serve as a flexible emotional technology. Themes of good and evil are key features of these emotional architectures, but how they are expressed vary from tale to tale. Full article

Introduction: Cancer is one of the evils of the current era and is considered a global public health problem. This disease has repercussions for the lives of patients in several dimensions, namely, physical, emotional, and psychosocial. Thus, it is believed that elements such as resilience, symptomatology, and self-care are related, as the disease and its treatments can have repercussions that extend beyond the clinic. Background/Objectives: We aimed to determine the relationship between symptom clusters and the mindful self-care of people with cancer in palliative care. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted with 125 palliative care patients diagnosed with malignant neoplasms. The research was carried out at a reference hospital in Brazil, located in the western region of the state of Santa Catarina, specializing in antineoplastic treatment. The data were collected between May and August 2023 from hospitalized patients. Three instruments were employed to obtain data: a sociodemographic and clinical data questionnaire, the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS-BR), and the Mindful Self-Care Scale (MSCS). For data analysis, descriptive statistics were used to characterize the participants, Student’s T-test was used for the other parametric tests, and variables with statistical evidence were selected for a linear regression model. Results: A statistically significant association was found between mindful self-care and symptoms of pain, tiredness, drowsiness, shortness of breath, depression, and malaise, with sleepiness being the only predictor of changes in this variable. Conclusions: Mindful self-care influences patients’ experience of symptoms, especially drowsiness, which predicts changes in self-care. Encouraging these practices reduces discomfort, enhances autonomy, and guides professionals in personalized care. Full article

This paper engages with James Sterba’s arguments from an Islamic theological perspective, particularly drawing on the Mu‘tazilite tradition. It focuses on three central themes: (1) the position of God in the face of horrendous evils, (2) the relationship between divine command theory and moral objectivity, and (3) the compatibility of Darwinian evolution with objective morality. First, I challenge Sterba’s claim that the existence of a wholly good and powerful God is logically incompatible with horrendous evils by proposing a “theistic structuralist” framework inspired by the Mu‘tazilite scholar Qadi Abd al-Jabbar. Second, while largely agreeing with Sterba’s critique of divine command theory, I incorporate a Mu‘tazilite view that grounds moral objectivity in God’s inherently good nature. Third, I support Sterba’s argument—against Sharon Street—that Darwinian evolution does not undermine moral objectivity, but I further argue that a consistent defense of this view ultimately requires the existence of God. Full article

As an extension of the Problem of Evil, the Problem of Hell poses further difficulties for the theodicy and eschatology of Western theist religions. This Problem of Hell, which presumes a transcendent divine entity, is, however, less applicable to an Eastern religious tradition like Buddhism. As a non-theist religion, Buddhism is not centered on an overpowering God but is predicated on the doctrine of kamma. Hell in Buddhism is conceived as one of the rebirth realms in the saṃsāra where beings are driven to by the force of their kamma. This kamma-based conception of hell has its own unique features, especially with regard to retribution and salvation. It also has a unique problem. As the doctrine of kamma is commonly understood as an endorsement of free will, it appears to conflict with another Buddhist doctrine, namely that of dependent origination, which is often interpreted as suggesting a deterministic worldview. This tension between doctrines of kamma and dependent origination is also known as the Buddhist free will problem, as it involves the controversy over the metaphysics of free will. Based on the Pāli scriptures, the essay tries to propose a compatibilist solution to the problem, defending kamma for the Buddhist hell. Full article

Emergency remote teaching was first introduced in the educational system of the Republic of Serbia during the COVID-19 pandemic, not as a planned change but as an imposed solution aimed at suppressing this infectious disease. This raises the question of the sustainability of remote teaching after the pandemic and the effects and experiences with emergency form of this method of teaching in the form it was used during the pandemic. Therefore, this paper is aimed at examining whether and in what manner technical factors such as digital competence, device equipment, Internet connection, and Zoom fatigue could contribute to students’ attitudes and satisfaction with this form of teaching, as well as how all these factors might contribute to the perception of satisfaction, efficiency, and sustainability of RT among the students of the teacher education faculties. The research involved 138 female university students from the faculties of education in Serbia. The results point to the unpreparedness of the educational system for the quick transition to emergency remote teaching and to inadequate logistic support for the implementation of this form of learning: from insufficient computer literacy, problems with the good-quality Internet in the territory of the whole country, having no adequate devices for following classes (most frequently mobile phones), students’ dissatisfaction with the effectiveness, to the phenomenon of Zoom fatigue as a consequence. The main finding is that students perceive remote teaching as a “necessary evil”, something that should be applied only when it is absolutely impossible to have the usual form of classes, only in emergency situations. This is also corroborated by the fact that after the pandemic, the school system returned to classes under traditional conditions. This leads to a conclusion about the unsustainability of the remote teaching model in Serbia, at least in the form that was applied, most probably because it was university students’ first and only experience in relation to it gained with emergency remote teaching, in the conditions of the COVID-19 crisis with its health, psychosocial, and economic pressures and with emergency form of this method of teaching. Full article

Drawing on Wittgenstein’s On Certainty, Duncan Pritchard argues for a position he calls quasi-fideism. Quasi-Fideism is the view that hinge commitments such as “God exists” are exempt from rational scrutiny within the language game of religion. However, other religious beliefs, which are not part of the framework of hinge commitments, can be rationally assessed and evaluated. This view is to be contrasted with pure fideism, in which all aspects of religion are exempt from rational scrutiny. The success of quasi-fideism depends on demonstrating that “God exists” is, indeed, a hinge commitment. In this paper, I will review and criticize some of Pritchard’s reasons for arguing that God’s existence should be considered a hinge commitment. Additionally, I will offer reasons why “God exists” cannot be a hinge commitment. Considering the rational problem of evil, single and multiple divine attributes, and the emotional problem of evil, I will show that the non-circular rational criticism of God’s existence is possible. Following the distinction between subjective and objective certainty in Wittgenstein’s On Certainty, I will suggest that a more fruitful line of inquiry for Wittgensteinians is to examine God as a subjective certainty. Full article

This article aims to offer Yi Kwangsu’s The Heartless (Mujŏng, 1917), the first modern Korean novel, as an emblem of hybrid religiosity in colonial modernity that sheds light on an ambivalent alterity in the problem of hell in non-Western cultures. To the extent that the problem of hell in Christianity pertains to the question of why God allows evil to exist eternally, God’s omnipotent authority with justice and fairness beyond the grave is placed at the center of the inquiry into the ultimate standard of moral goodness the religious feasibility of which justifies the existence of sinners suffering eternal damnation in hell. But the co-existence of the omnipotent God and unrepentant sinners is not always questioned in the religiosity of hell in non-Western cultures. The Christian imaginary of hell in non-Western cultures often demarcates the question of God’s sovereignty from the sufferings of sinners in the problem of hell. Based on these observations, this article will investigate Yi’s narratives of hell in The Heartless, which are associated with Christianity but intertwined with his ethical demands for shaping a new individuality beyond the traditional hybrid religiosity of hell. Specifically, first, we will show that Yi’s Christian imaginary of hell is reformulated through the traditional imaginaries of hell in which, regardless of the existence of God’s sovereignty over the created order, the sufferings of sinners in hell function to secure social norms and orders. In doing so, we claim that the Christian imaginary of hell in The Heartless is relegated to a rhetorical means to beget the need for the self-awakening of the inner-self through which individual desires can be freed from the influences of Confucian morality as well as Christian theodicy. Second, in comparison with Lu Xun’s sympathetic relocation of Christian spirituality within the traditional Chinese imaginaries of hell in his longing for modern subjectivity, we explore Yi’s hybrid religiosity within colonial modernity, the vitality of which cannot be confined within the simple dichotomy between Western and non-Western cultures. At this juncture, the upshot of Yi’s hybrid religiosity within colonial modernity is that the theodicy of hell in Christianity can be displaced and thereby disenfranchised from the centrality of the search for a new individuality. Full article

This study examines how Ibn Arabi’s metaphysics can address key challenges in the contemporary philosophical debate on the problem of evil. John Mackie famously argues that the existence of an omnibenevolent and omnipotent God is logically incompatible with the existence of evil, suggesting that theism must relinquish one of these divine attributes to resolve this contradiction. Alvin Plantinga, through his Free Will Defense, demonstrates that no logical contradiction undermines the coherence of the theistic conception of God. Although Mackie concedes this point, he contends that Plantinga’s defense does not sufficiently explain why God permits evil. With the resolution of the logical problem of evil, the evidential problem has gained prominence in the theistic debate, where Plantinga’s defense remains inadequate. While Plantinga invites theists to explore potential theological reasons for God’s allowance of evil, he acknowledges that this approach may not yield strong philosophical results. In contrast, Ibn Arabi’s metaphysical framework offers a more comprehensive solution. By integrating ontology, epistemology, and metaphysics to establish a coherent relationship between God, the universe, and humanity, Ibn Arabi renders Mackie’s logical critique irrelevant. Furthermore, his approach fills the gaps left by Plantinga’s defense, offering a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between God and evil. Full article

This contribution reconstructs the reflection on witches of Johannes Trithemius (1462–1516), a German Benedictine who took up the pen on several occasions to declare against the spread of witchcraft and the need to solve this problem. The method adopted is to understand Trithemius’ thought from the analysis of his own works, specifically the Antipalus maleficiorum (1505–1508), the Liber octo quaestionum (1515) and what can be known of the De daemonibus (1507–1514). What will emerge will be an articulate reflection, which re-proposes the doctrine of the Malleus maleficarum (1486) enriched with original elements often drawn from popular superstitions. Thus, Trithemius proposes artifices to be immune from witches (e.g., apotropaic amulets) and provides specific indications on how to cure evil spells (exorcism), extending the dissertation to broader issues, such as the gender question, the relationship between witches and children (e.g., sacrifices, proselytes, victims) and developments in exorcism practice. Full article

This paper argues that reflections on evil and its origin formed part of philosophical inquiry already in the times of the Presocratics. It considers only those thinkers whose contribution to the issue may be characterised as noteworthy: Anaximander, the Pythagoreans, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Empedocles, and the Atomists. It is undeniable that none of the Presocratics presented an articulate theory of evil or a theodicy; therefore, the suggestions presented here are bound to remain conjectural. Still, it is my conviction that their fragments contain significant ideas related to evil’s origins. Insofar as they turned their attention to the problem of evil, the Presocratics displayed the following tendencies: (a) they declined to ascribe the existence of evil to the will of the gods. Instead, (b) the emergence of badness was seen as instigated by the disruption of the primeval harmony (Anaximander), or (c) coeval opposed principles in constant struggle for dominance were posited, one of which was the cause of good, the other of evil (Pythagoreans and Empedocles). (d) Attempts were made to make good’s existence dependent on the existence of evil or to declare the latter illusory (Heraclitus and Parmenides). (e) Emphasis was placed on the moral agents’ personal responsibility for badness (Democritus). Full article

Recent cyber security solutions for wireless networks during internet open access have become critically important for personal data security. The newest WPA3 network security protocol has been used to maximize this protection; however, attackers can use an Evil Twin attack to replace a legitimate access point. The article is devoted to solving the problem of intrusion detection at the OSI model’s physical layers. To solve this, a hardware–software complex has been developed to collect information about the signal strength from Wi-Fi access points using wireless sensor networks. The collected data were supplemented with a generative algorithm considering all possible combinations of signal strength. The k-nearest neighbor model was trained on the obtained data to distinguish the signal strength of legitimate from illegitimate access points. To verify the authenticity of the data, an Evil Twin attack was physically simulated, and a machine learning model analyzed the data from the sensors. As a result, the Evil Twin attack was successfully identified based on the signal strength in the radio spectrum. The proposed model can be used in open access points as well as in large corporate and home Wi-Fi networks to detect intrusions aimed at substituting devices in the radio spectrum where IEEE 802.11 networking equipment operates. Full article