Moral critique and defence of theodicy

Religious Studies 49 (4):439-458 (2013)
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Abstract

In this essay, moral anti-theodicy is characterized as opposition to the trivialization of suffering, defined as the reinterpretation of horrendous evils in a way the sufferer cannot accept. Ambitious theodicy (which claim goods emerge from specific evils) is deemed always to trivialize horrendous evils and, because there is no specific theoretical context, also harm sufferers. Moral anti-theodicy is susceptible to two main criticisms. First, it is over-demanding as a moral position. Second, anti-theodicist opposition to least ambitious theodicies, which portray God's decision to create as an scenario, requires a moral commitment to philosophical pessimism. Thus anti-theodicists should not be quick to take the moral high ground. However, this should not encourage theodicists, since theodicies may well be self-defeating in so far as they attempt to provide comfort

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Samuel Shearn
Universität Rostock

Citations of this work

Theodicy on Trial.Daryl Ooi - 2022 - Philosophia 50 (4):2015-2034.
Does moral anti-theodicy beg the question?Gabriel Echazú - 2024 - International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 95 (2):115-130.
Overcoming the limits of theodicy: an interactive reciprocal response to evil.John Culp - 2015 - International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 78 (3):263-276.

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References found in this work

I and thou.Martin Buber - 1970 - New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons 57.
Demandingness as a Virtue.Robert E. Goodin - 2009 - The Journal of Ethics 13 (1):1-13.
Horrendous Evils and the Goodness of God.[author unknown] - 1989 - Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 63:297-323.
The Problem of evil.Marilyn McCord Adams & Robert Merrihew Adams (eds.) - 1990 - New York: Oxford University Press.

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