A Phenomenological Approach to Skeptical Theism

2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-126
Author(s):  
Steven Nemes
Keyword(s):  
Phenomenological Approach ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Human Knowledge ◽  
Skeptical Theism ◽  
Moral Significance ◽  
Existence Of God ◽  
Present Essay ◽  
Evidential Argument ◽  
Argument From Evil ◽  
Phenomenological Point

"The purpose of the present essay is to present a version of the evidential argument from evil and to propose a ‘skeptical theistic’ response from a phenomenological point of view. In a word, the problem with the evidential argument from evil is that it attempts to put forth as justified an interpretation of the moral significance of historical events which actually exceeds the limits of human knowledge and which is based on a misinterpretation of experience. The essay also corrects certain analytic-philosophical notions regarding the nature of appearance, terminating with a discussion of the familiar critiques of analytic skeptical theism and the question of whether the belief in the existence of God might not be affected by the apparent skepticism implied by the phenomenological approach to knowledge in general. Keywords: existence of God, argument from evil, skeptical theism, phenomenology, analytic philosophy "

Two Ways to God in Thomas Aquinas and Michel Henry

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 164-187
Author(s):  
Steven Nemes
Keyword(s):  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Existence Of God ◽  
Present Essay ◽  
Michel Henry

Abstract One can discern passages in the writings of the Scholastic doctor Thomas Aquinas and the contemporary French phenomenologist Michel Henry which can be interpreted as putting forth very similar ways for grasping the existence of God. These “ways to God” can be fruitfully compared from the point of view of their philosophical starting points as well as of their consequences for theological epistemology. The purpose of the present essay is to pursue this comparative work and to see what philosophical-theological fruit it can yield.

God, Suffering, and the Value of Free Will

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura W. Ekstrom
Keyword(s):  
Free Will ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Skeptical Theism ◽  
Existence Of God ◽  
Moral Goodness ◽  
The Problem Of Evil ◽  
Argument From Evil ◽  
Close Investigation ◽  
Traditional Doctrine

This book focuses on arguments from suffering against the existence of God and on a variety of issues concerning agency and value that they bring out. The central aim is to show the extent and power of arguments from evil. The book provides a close investigation of an under-defended claim at the heart of the major free-will-based responses to such arguments, namely that free will is sufficiently valuable to serve as the good, or to serve prominently among the goods, that provides a God-justifying reason for permitting evil in our world. Offering a fresh examination of traditional theodicies, it also develops an alternative line the author calls a divine intimacy theodicy. It makes an extended case for rejection of the position of skeptical theism. The book expands upon an argument from evil concerning a traditional doctrine of hell, which reveals a number of interesting issues concerning fault, agency, and blameworthiness. In response to recent work contending that the problem of evil is defanged since God’s baseline attitude toward human beings is indifference, the book defends the essential perfect moral goodness of God. Finally it takes up the question of whether or not it makes sense to live a religious life as an agnostic or as an atheist.

Skeptical theism and Skepticism About the External World and Past

2017 ◽  
Vol 81 ◽  
pp. 55-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Law
Keyword(s):  
External World ◽  
Problem Of Evil ◽  
Skeptical Theism ◽  
The Past ◽  
Evidential Argument ◽  
Argument From Evil ◽  
Evidential Problem Of Evil

AbstractSkeptical theism is a popular - if not universally theistically endorsed - response to the evidential problem of evil. Skeptical theists question how we can be in a position to know God lacks God-justifying reason to allow the evils we observe. In this paper I examine a criticism of skeptical theism: that the skeptical theists skepticism re divine reasons entails that, similarly, we cannot know God lacks God-justifying reason to deceive us about the external world and the past. This in turn seems to supply us with a defeater for all our beliefs regarding the external world and past? Critics argue that either the skeptical theist abandon their skeptical theism, thereby resurrecting the evidential argument from evil, or else they must embrace seemingly absurd skeptical consequences, including skepticism about the external world and past. I look at various skeptical theist responses to this critique and find them all wanting.

Religious experience and the evidential argument from evil

2002 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 339-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAVID SILVER
Keyword(s):  
Religious Experience ◽  
Problem Of Evil ◽  
Epistemic Value ◽  
Existence Of God ◽  
Belief In God ◽  
Evidential Argument ◽  
The World ◽  
The Problem Of Evil ◽  
Argument From Evil ◽  
Theistic Belief

This paper examines Alvin Plantinga's defence of theistic belief in the light of Paul Draper's formulation of the problem of evil. Draper argues (a) that the facts concerning the distribution of pain and pleasure in the world are better explained by a hypothesis which does not include the existence of God than by a hypothesis which does; and (b) that this provides an epistemic challenge to theists. Plantinga counters that a theist could accept (a) yet still rationally maintain a belief in God. His defence of theism depends on the epistemic value of religious experience. I argue, however, that Plantinga's defence of theism is not successful.

RELIGIOUS LANDSCAPE OF VILNIUS: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL GLANCE / VILNIAUS RELIGINIS PEIZAŽAS: FENOMENOLOGINIS ŽVILGSNIS

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Basia Nikiforova
Keyword(s):  
Phenomenological Approach ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Short Discussion ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Religious Landscape ◽  
Phenomenological Point ◽  
New Spirituality

The traditional religious landscape is changing considerably, and the current religious landscape exhibits a remarkable variety. The religious landscape was shifting. Today in Europe there are three general trends – secularization, new spirituality and immigrant religions such as Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism additional to Judeo-Christian tradition. Phenomenological approaches are crucial for developing new and deepening existing modes of cooperation between dissimilar cultures and religions. Using phenomenological approach we look on religious landscape of Vilnius as pluralistic from the two general views: old historical, traditional source and nowadays the increasing diversity. The article includes a short discussion about definition of ‘religious landscape’ and the possibilities of its interpretation. Using definition epochē from phenomenological point of view we conclude that religious landscape of Vilnius is pluralistic. Santrauka Tradicinis religinis peizažas kinta labai pastebimai, o dabartinis demonstruoja ypač didelę įvairovę. Nūdien Europoje vyrauja trys bendros tendencijos – sekuliarizacija, naujasis dvasingumas ir imigrantų religijos, tokios kaip islamas, budizmas, iniduizmas greta judaistinės-krikščioniškosios tradicijos. Remdamiesi fenomenologiniu požiūriu, žvelgiame į religinį Vilniaus peizažą kaip į pliuralistinį, atsiveriantį iš dviejų bendrų perspektyvų: senoji istorinė, tradicinė versmė ir nūdien augantis skirtingumas. Straipsnyje imamasi trumpos diskusijos „religinio peizažo” tema ir apie šio apibrėžimo interpretavimo galimybes. Pasitelkiant sąvokąepochē, fenomenologinio mąstymo perspektyvoje prieinama išvada, kad Vilniaus religinis peizažas yra pliuralistinis.

scholarly journals Exploration of Everydayness in Schizophrenia: A Phenomenological Approach

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Sarah Troubé
Keyword(s):  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Phenomenological Approach ◽  
Specific Form ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Psychotherapeutic Approach ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Phenomenological Point ◽  
Phenomenological Psychopathology

This article explores everydayness as a specific form of experience of the world and its alterations in schizophrenia. In the field of phenomenological psychopathology, the transformations of subjective experience in schizophrenia have been the subject of a great deal of work, but the relationship between these alterations of subjective experience and the experience of the everyday remains largely unexplored. A phenomenological point of view leads us to explore everydayness as a constitutive framework of experience, one that may be impeded in schizophrenia. The question of the everyday allows us to bridge the gap between the descriptions of subjective experience proposed by phenomenological psychopathology and what is at stake in therapeutic treatment. It seems to us that the work of constructing an individual narrative of the everyday may be a useful psychotherapeutic approach for helping patients rebuild the framework of everydayness.

Experiencing Values in the Flow of Events: A Phenomenological Approach to Relational Values

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christophe Gilliand
Keyword(s):  
Phenomenological Approach ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Relational Ontology ◽  
Relational Values ◽  
Person Perspective ◽  
The World ◽  
Full Sense ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Phenomenological Point

This paper explores the notion of ‘relational values’ from a phenomenological point of view. In the first place, it stresses that in order to make full sense of relational values, we need to approach them through a relational ontology that surpasses dualistic descriptions of the world structured around the subject and the object. With this aim, the paper turns to ecophenomenology’s attempt to apprehend values from a first-person perspective embedded in the lifeworld, where our entanglement with other beings is not a theoretical construction but a palpable reality. Overall, the article’s main purpose is to show that, in our direct and raw experience, values do not appear as subjective judgments or as objective properties but as events in which we participate alongside other human and non-human beings.

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