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Divine Freedom
Divine freedom is the concept that God has free will. One argument advanced against the concept of divine freedom is that it may contradict the principle of omnibenevolence, by limiting God's choices to only actions with perfectly good consequences. According to saint Augustine of Hippo, since evil is absence of being and of perfection Perfection is a state, variously, of completeness, flawlessness, or supreme excellence. The terminology, term is used to designate a range of diverse, if often kindred, concepts. These have historically been addressed in a number of discrete a ..., the fact that God is the Highest does not limit His perfection, being, or freedom. References See also * Absence of good * Argument from free will * Euthyphro dilemma * Modal collapse * Conceptions of God Religious philosophical concepts {{theology-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Free Will
Free will is the capacity of agents to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded. Free will is closely linked to the concepts of moral responsibility, praise, culpability, sin, and other judgements which apply only to actions that are freely chosen. It is also connected with the concepts of advice, persuasion, deliberation, and prohibition. Traditionally, only actions that are freely willed are seen as deserving credit or blame. Whether free will exists, what it is and the implications of whether it exists or not are some of the longest running debates of philosophy and religion. Some conceive of free will as the right to act outside of external influences or wishes. Some conceive free will to be the capacity to make choices undetermined by past events. Determinism suggests that only one course of events is possible, which is inconsistent with a libertarian model of free will. Ancient Greek philosophy identified this issue, which remains a major focus o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Omnibenevolence
Omnibenevolence (from Latin ''omni-'' meaning "all", ''bene-'' meaning "good" and ''volens'' meaning "willing") is defined by the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' as "unlimited or infinite benevolence". Some philosophers have argued that it is impossible, or at least improbable, for a deity to exhibit such a property alongside omniscience and omnipotence, as a result of the problem of evil. However, some philosophers, such as Alvin Plantinga, argue the plausibility of co-existence. The word is primarily used as a technical term within academic literature on the philosophy of religion, mainly in context of the problem of evil and theodical responses to such, although even in said contexts the phrases "perfect goodness" and "moral perfection" are often preferred because of the difficulties in defining what exactly constitutes "infinite benevolence". Usage The term is patterned on, and often accompanied by, the terms ''omniscience'' and ''omnipotence'', typically to refer to concept ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Augustinianism
Augustinianism is the philosophical and theological system of Augustine of Hippo and its subsequent development by other thinkers, notably Boethius, Anselm of Canterbury and Bonaventure. Among Augustine's most important works are ''The City of God'', '' De doctrina Christiana'', and '' Confessions''. Originally, Augustinianism developed in opposition to Pelagianism; it was widespread in medieval western philosophy until the arrival of Thomism and Aristotelianism. Plato and Plotinus influenced Augustine in many ways, and he is considered a Neoplatonic philosopher. The Augustinian theodicy and other Augustinian doctrines such as the divine illumination and the invisible church show a strong Platonic influence. Pope Benedict XVI cautioned that all of the Western Church teaching leads to him: View of humanity "Augustine considered the human race as a compact mass, a collective body, responsible in its unity and solidarity. Carrying out his system in all its logical consequences ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Evil
Evil, in a general sense, is defined as the opposite or absence of good. It can be an extremely broad concept, although in everyday usage it is often more narrowly used to talk about profound wickedness and against common good. It is generally seen as taking multiple possible forms, such as the form of personal moral evil commonly associated with the word, or impersonal natural evil (as in the case of natural disasters or illnesses), and in religious thought, the form of the demonic or supernatural/eternal. While some religions, world views, and philosophies focus on "good versus evil", others deny evil's existence and usefulness in describing people. Evil can denote profound immorality, but typically not without some basis in the understanding of the human condition, where strife and suffering ( cf. Hinduism) are the true roots of evil. In certain religious contexts, evil has been described as a supernatural force. Definitions of evil vary, as does the analysis of it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Perfection
Perfection is a state, variously, of completeness, flawlessness, or supreme excellence. The terminology, term is used to designate a range of diverse, if often kindred, concepts. These have historically been addressed in a number of discrete academic discipline, disciplines, notably mathematics, physics, chemistry, ethics, aesthetics, ontology, and theology. Term and concept The form of the word long fluctuated in various languages. The English language had the alternates, "perfection" and the Bible, Biblical "perfectness."WÅ‚adysÅ‚aw Tatarkiewicz, Tatarkiewicz, "Perfection: the Term and the Concept," ''Dialectics and Humanism'', vol. VI, no. 4 (autumn 1979), p. 5. The word "perfection" derives from the Latin "''w:la:perfectio, perfectio''", and "perfect" — from "''w:la:perfectus, perfectus''". These expressions in turn come from "''w:la:perficio, perficio''" — "to finish", "to bring to an end". "''Perfectio''(n)" thus literally means "a finishing", and "perfect''(us)''" â ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Absence Of Good
The absence of good ( la, privatio boni), also known as the privation theory of evil, is a theological and philosophical doctrine that evil, unlike good, is insubstantial, so that thinking of it as an entity is misleading. Instead, evil is rather the absence, or lack ("privation"), of good. This also means that everything that exists is good, insofar as it exists; and is also sometimes stated as that evil ought to be regarded as ''nothing'', or as ''something non-existent''. It is often associated with a version of the problem of evil: if some things in the world were to be admitted to be evil, this could be taken to reflect badly on the creator of the world, who would then be difficult to admit to be completely good. The merit of the doctrine in serving as a response to this version of the problem of evil is disputed. History Ancient Greek and Hellenistic philosophy The doctrine is sometimes said to be rooted in Plato. While Plato never directly stated the doctrine, it was dev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Argument From Free Will
The argument from free will, also called the paradox of free will or theological fatalism, contends that omniscience and free will are incompatible and that any conception of God that incorporates both properties is therefore inconceivable. See the various controversies over claims of God's omniscience, in particular the critical notion of foreknowledge.''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy''Foreknowledge and Free Will/ref> These arguments are deeply concerned with the implications of predestination. Omniscience and free will Some arguments against the existence of God focus on the supposed incoherence of humankind possessing free will and God's omniscience. These arguments are deeply concerned with the implications of predestination. Noted Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides described the conflict between divine omnipotence and his creation's person's free will, in traditional terms of good and evil actions, as follows: A "standard Anglican" theologian gave a similar descri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Euthyphro Dilemma
The Euthyphro dilemma is found in Plato's dialogue ''Euthyphro'', in which Socrates asks Euthyphro, "Is the pious ( τὸ ὅσιον) loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?" ( 10a) Although it was originally applied to the ancient Greek pantheon, the dilemma has implications for modern monotheistic religions. Gottfried Leibniz asked whether the good and just "is good and just because God wills it or whether God wills it because it is good and just". Ever since Plato's original discussion, this question has presented a problem for some theists, though others have thought it a false dilemma, and it continues to be an object of theological and philosophical discussion today. The dilemma Socrates and Euthyphro discuss the nature of piety in Plato's ''Euthyphro''. Euthyphro proposes (6e) that the pious ( τὸ ὅσιον) is the same thing as that which is loved by the gods ( τὸ θεοφιλÎÏ‚), but Socrates finds a problem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Modal Collapse
In modal logic, modal collapse is the condition in which every true statement is necessarily true, and vice versa; that is to say, there are no contingent truths, or to put it another way, that "everything exists necessarily". In the notation of modal logic, this can be written as \phi \leftrightarrow \Box \phi. In the context of philosophy, the term is commonly used in critiques of ontological arguments for the existence of God and the principle of divine simplicity. For example, Gödel's ontological proof contains \phi \rightarrow \Box \phi as a theorem, which combined with the axioms of system S5 leads to modal collapse. Since some regard divine freedom as essential to the nature of God, and modal collapse as negating the concept of free will, this then leads to the breakdown of Gödel's argument. References Collapse Collapse or its variants may refer to: Concepts * Collapse (structural) * Collapse (topology), a mathematical concept * Collapsing manifold * Coll ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conceptions Of God
Conceptions of God in Monotheism, monotheist, Pantheism, pantheist, and Panentheism, panentheist religions – or of the supreme deity in henotheistic religions – can extend to various levels of abstraction: * as a Omnipotence, powerful, Personal god, personal, supernatural being, or as the Apotheosis, deification of an Esotericism, esoteric, mystical or philosophical entity or category; * as the "The Ultimate (philosophy), Ultimate", the ''summum bonum'', the "Absolute Infinite", the "Transcendence (religion), Transcendent", or Existence or Being itself; * as the ground of being, the Monism, monistic Wiktionary:substrate, substrate, that which we cannot understand; and so on. The first recordings that survive of monotheistic conceptions of God, borne out of henotheism and (mostly in Eastern religions) monism, are from the Hellenistic period. Of the many objects and entities that religions and other belief systems across the ages have labeled as divine, the one crite ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
