scholarly journals James Sterba’s New Argument from Evil

Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
William Hasker
Keyword(s):  
Main Argument ◽  
The World ◽  
Secure Foundation ◽  
Argument From Evil

This article addresses the main argument in James Sterba’s book, an argument which claims that the existence of a good God is logically incompatible with the evil in the world. I claim to show that his main premise, MEPRI, is implausible and is not a secure foundation for such an argument.

Critique

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irfan Ahmad
Keyword(s):  
Western Philosophy ◽  
Main Argument ◽  
Race Studies ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
German Enlightenment ◽  
French Enlightenment ◽  
The World ◽  
Immanent Critique

The main argument of this chapter is: the Enlightenment was an ethnic project and its conceptualization of reason highly local as it pitted itself against a series of Others, Islam included. Evidently, feminist and race studies scholarship offers a critique of the Enlightenment and its universalism. A point less stressed is that the erasure of non-Western philosophy in Enlightenment thinking construed universal as only "to all," not "from all." Consequently, non-Westerners were construed as empirical objects, not thinking subjects. As it disregarded from all, Western universalism claiming that it is for all and to all could only be missionary-like, for the only option it leaves open for those not subscribing to or already within is to convert. The blueprint for conversion stemmed from Enlightenment ideas of "civilizational infantilism" of the non-West and the obligation to "better the world." To substantiate this argument, the chapter discusses the German Enlightenment and the French Enlightenment both of which reconfigured rather than erased Christianity. Building on works, among others, of Talal Asad, the chapter alternatively outlines the possibility of analyzing Islam and reason as interwoven to show how immanent critique has been central to Islamic histories and cultures.

The Argument from Non-belief

1993 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 417-432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodore M. Drange
Keyword(s):  
The World ◽  
Argument From Evil

Attempts have been made to prove God's non-existence. Often this takes the form of an appeal to the so-called Argument from Evil: if God were to exist, then he would not permit as much suffering in the world as there actually is. Hence the fact that there is so much suffering constitutes evidence for God's non-existence. In this essay I propose a variation which I shall call ‘The Argument from Non-belief’. Its basic idea is that if God were to exist, then he would not permit as much non-belief in the world as there actually is. Hence the fact that there is so much non-belief constitutes evidence for God's non-existence.

THE PROBLEM OF WORSHIP

Think ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 9 (25) ◽  
pp. 101-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott F. Aikin
Keyword(s):  
Central Importance ◽  
Traditional Theism ◽  
The World ◽  
Argument From Evil

Theism is a cluster of views. The first of which is that God exists. Others are that God has all the relevant omni-attributes, that He created the world, and that He communicates with and performs miracles on behalf of humans. There is one additional view that is often overlooked. It is that humans are obligated to worship God. Importantly, this issue of worship is of central importance to traditional theism. And it extends into pagan thought that predates Christianity. Take, for example Epicurus' deployment of the argument from evil: If god is willing to prevent evil, then he is not omnipotent. If he is able but unwilling, then he is malevolent. If he is able and willing, from whence comes evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him god?

scholarly journals How many could have been saved? Effects of social distancing on COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matheus Cunha ◽  
Amanda Domingos ◽  
Virginia Rocha ◽  
Marcus Torres
Keyword(s):  
Causal Effect ◽  
Cumulative Effects ◽  
Causal Effects ◽  
Main Argument ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
The Third ◽  
The World ◽  
Available Information

Abstract What is the effect of social distancing policies on the spread of the new coronavirus? Social distancing policies rose to prominence as most capable of containing contagion and saving lives. Our purpose in this paper is to identify the causal effect of social distancing policies on the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 and on contagion velocity. We align our main argument with the existing scientific consensus: social distancing policies negatively affect the number of cases. To test this hypothesis, we construct a dataset with daily information on 78 affected countries in the world. We compute several relevant measures from publicly available information on the number of cases and deaths to estimate causal effects for short-term and cumulative effects of social distancing policies. We use a time-series cross-sectional matching approach to match countries’ observable histories. Causal effects (ATTs and ATEs) can be extracted via a dif-in-dif estimator. Results show that social distancing policies reduce the aggregated number of cases by 4,832 on average (or 17.5/100 thousand), but only when strict measures are adopted. This effect seems to manifest from the third week onwards.

scholarly journals „Najpierw ręka lewa, potem ręka lewa”. Tłumacz norweskich powieści kryminalnych wobec błędów w tekście oryginalnym

2020 ◽  
pp. 88-104
Author(s):  
Karolina Drozdowska
Keyword(s):  
Crime Fiction ◽  
Identity Change ◽  
Main Argument ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Left Hand ◽  
The Past ◽  
Short Summary ◽  
The World ◽  
The Devil

“First the left hand, then the left hand.” A Translator of Norwegian Crime Novels Faced with Mistakes in the Source Text Norwegian crime fiction is a genre which has gained enormous popularity among readers around the world over the past several years, and this creates a greater demand for translation of this kind of literature. The purpose of this text is to take a closer look at mistakes in Norwegian source texts a translator has to face when working with this genre. The article gives a short summary of potential causes of these mistakes, attempts to categorize them and describes possible ways of correcting them. The main argument is that the translator’s role and identity change in this process, as the translator often has to perform the tasks of an additional editor or proofreader. The crime novels analyzed here are: Blod i dans [Dance with the Devil] by Gard Sveen, Møt meg i paradis [Meet me in Paradise] by Heine Bakkeid and Alt er mitt [Deep Fjord] by Ruth Lillegraven.

scholarly journals Politik Identitas dalam Sejarah Pembentukan Negara Israel

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (01) ◽  
pp. 84
Author(s):  
Elpeni Fitrah
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Cultural Politics ◽  
State Formation ◽  
Identity Politics ◽  
Political Identity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Main Argument ◽  
Political Movement ◽  
The World

This paper discusses how the political identity becomes a motive of Israel state formation. Identitypolitics is a part of cultural politics which consisted by race, religion, ethnic and culture. TheAuthor identified identity politics as a concept or political movement which focusing into diversity.The main argument of this paper is Israel has succeed utilize its cultural identity narrative to unitethe perception of the Jewish around the world to reproduce as a historical justification as well asthe tools of politics for the sake of the embodiment of national ideals in establishing their ownnation state. Keywords: Identity Politics, Narrative, Perception, Israel

The Semantics of ‘Appear’ Words

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Berit Brogaard
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Logical Form ◽  
Main Argument ◽  
The World ◽  
Property Instances ◽  
Subject Raising

In this initial chapter, the author establishes her framework for discussion of perceptual verbs like ‘look’, ‘see’, ‘seem’. Perceptual reports are particular speech acts made by utterances of sentences that contain a perceptual verb. More specifically, they are assertions made by utterances of these sentences. Perceptual reports assert how objects in the world and their perceptible property instances are perceived by subjects. A subset of these reports purport to assert how objects in the world and their visually perceptible property instances are visually perceived by subjects. This chapter is primarily concerned with the semantics of ‘seem’ and ‘look’, which—it is argued—subject-raising verbs. Subject-raising verbs function as intensional operators at the level of logical form, just like ‘it is possible’, ‘it was the case’, and ‘it might be the case’. The author’s main argument for the representational view rests on this fact about ‘seem’ and ‘look’.

The Verisimilitudinarian approach to ‘the Truth’

Perspectives ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-39
Author(s):  
Andrea Roselli
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Progress ◽  
Main Argument ◽  
Scientific Theories ◽  
The World ◽  
Epistemic Notion ◽  
The One ◽  
The Way

AbstractThe Verisimilitudinarian approach to scientific progress (VS, for short) is traditionally considered a realist-correspondist model to explain the proximity of our best scientific theories to the way things really are in the world out there (ʻthe Truthʻ, with the capital ʻtʻ). However, VS is based on notions, such as ʻestimated verisimilitudeʻ or ʻapproximate truthʻ, that dilute the model in a functionalist-like theory. My thesis, then, is that VS tries to incorporate notions, such as ʻprogressʻ, in a pre-constituted metaphysical conception of the world, but fails in providing a fitting framework. The main argument that I will develop to support this claim is that the notions that they use to explain scientific progress (ʻestimated verisimilitudeʻ or ʻapproximate truthʻ) have nothing to do with ʻthe Truthʻ. After presenting Cevolani and Tamboloʻs answer (2013) to Birdʻs arguments (2007), I will claim that VS sacrifices the realist-correspondist truth in favor of an epistemic notion of truth, which can obviously be compatible with certain kinds of realism but not with the one the authors have in mind (the correspondence between our theories and the way things really are).

Little Italy, Big Japan: Patterns of Continuity and Displacement among Italian Writers in Japan

2020 ◽  
pp. 137-192
Author(s):  
Michele Monserrati
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Italo Calvino ◽  
Main Argument ◽  
Continuity And Change ◽  
Rapid Economic Growth ◽  
The World ◽  
Alberto Moravia ◽  
Post War ◽  
Italian Model ◽  
Little Italy

Chapter 3 fast forwards to the post-war years and the period of reconstruction, which featured rapid economic growth in both Italy and Japan. The chapter considers the writings of Fosco Maraini, Goffredo Parise, Alberto Moravia and Italo Calvino through the ideological framework of continuity and change that was widely debated in Japan at the time of its rapid modernization. The chapter main argument is that the perceived Japanese model of societal evolution, based on a relation of continuity with the country’s past and tradition, played a central role in the writing of Italians traveling to Japan in this period by virtue of generating a contrast with the Italian model of evolution, which was predicated upon rupture and displacement. The conclusion of the chapter advances the hypothesis of a neo-exotic wave of interest toward Japan, predicated upon post-Marxist intellectuals’ quest for areas of the world that (unlike Europe) had not yet fallen under the ideological and cultural dominion of the Cold War’s bipolar order.

scholarly journals Appearances and dis/dys-appearances

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabeth El Refaie
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Conscious Awareness ◽  
Lived Body ◽  
Main Argument ◽  
Cultural Meanings ◽  
Conceptual Metaphor Theory ◽  
Metaphor Theory ◽  
The World ◽  
Dynamic Perspective ◽  
Complex Fluid

This article draws on phenomenological and sociological notions of the ‘lived’ body in order to develop a dynamic perspective on embodiment in Conceptual Metaphor Theory. My main argument is that even our most basic sensorimotor experiences are more complex, fluid, and more deeply imbued with socio-cultural meanings than many metaphor scholars assume. While our conscious awareness is ordinarily directed towards the world, making our physical actions and perceptions appear to be natural and straightforward, at times of dysfunction, such as illness and disability, the body suddenly seizes our attention and is perceived as alien. In these moments bodily experience often becomes not just the source, but also the target of metaphorical mappings. I demonstrate the usefulness of the notion of dynamic embodiment by applying it to the example of verbal and visual cancer metaphors.

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