Analyse Hick’s vale of soul making theodicy. (30 marks) John Hick’s vale of soul making theodicy is a modern form of the Irenaean theodicy. This theodicy argues that both natural and moral evil are important, so they have a good purpose and therefore an all loving God is justified in allowing evil. Hick claimed that God had made humans morally imperfect to help them complete the process of creation themselves. He argues that humans are made in the image of God with the potential to accomplish perfection in the future, and then humans will then grow to become the likeness of God.
Aquinas considered that by using our reason to reflect on our human nature we could discover our specific end purpose. Aquinas used the ideas of Aristotle and the Stoics as an underpinning for Natural Law saying- human beings have an essential rational nature given by God in order for us to live and flourish. Aristotle said even without knowledge of god, reason can discover the laws that lead to human flourishing. The Stoics said Natural Laws are universal and unchangeable and should be used to judge of particular societies. We use this is help us choose the right moral action is situations.
D.D. Palmers followed the metaphysical branch that the body has both an innate and a universal intelligence. This vitalistic approach gained Chiropractors that follow this belief the nickname ‘straights’, preferring to concentrate on subluxations of the spine only. Mechanistic Chiropractors verge more towards the normative sciences branch of philosophy. They reject both innate and universal intelligence as a belief.
Response on Friedrich Nietzsche Veronica Piccioni The Death of God is Nietzche’s explination that the idea of God can no longer give human beings answers and can no longer provide certain values to us. It is the end of the western world’s reliance on religion as a moral compass and source of meaning. The western world had depended on the rule of God for thousands of years. Religion gave order to society and meaning to life and without it he believed that society will move into an age of nihilism which is the total rejection of established laws and institutions. Another major part of Nietzsche’s philosophy is his concept of “will to power".
“God is dead! And we have killed him” is a famous statement by a captivating and wise German philosopher by the name of Fredrick Nietzsche. His work is amongst the most influential and brilliant philosophical works of our time. It aims to get us to reevaluate our existing principles and conceptions. In his work Daybreak, Nietzsche challenges our understanding of what constitutes the self.
Frankenstein was being written in a time when philosophers and writers such as Rousseau and John Locke where developing their ideas on the human condition. Rousseau’s Theory of Natural Human, which acknowledged that morality was not a societal construct but rather “natural” and “innate”, is questioned throughout the novel. Shelley examines the effect of society and knowledge on the innate goodness of the Creature, suggesting that he has become the monster that Victor sees him as because of the unwillingness of his creator to accept him and nurture him. The idea that humans’ innate goodness is tainted and polluted by society is present when the Creature expresses that his “sorrow only increased with knowledge” and this “increase of knowledge only discovered to [him] more clearly what wretched outcast [he] was”. The relationship between Frankenstein and the Creature is also paralleled with that of Lucifer and God and this is shown when the Creature, a symbol of humankind, acknowledges that “I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed”, suggesting that had it been nurtured/educated, it would have become an
The changes include the belief that the scientific method is the supreme law of knowledge; the view that the universe is composed of elementary material building blocks; and the belief in unlimited material progress to be achieved through economic and technological growth. In the past, the old model was traditionally ruled by knowledge gained through religion and mysticism. The new model serves to avoid an extremely rational thinking, scientific based model of consciousness and reality. According to Marx, the roots of social evolution were deep in economic and technological growth, not ideas or values. Charles Darwin had similar ideas, but about biological evolution, emphasizing the importance of just conflict and struggle.
He firmly thought that God is a righteous one who at the end of time will deal with those who rejected him. Augustine`s argument that evil is a `deprivation of good` rather than a positive substance created by God has been supported by some modern thinkers. Brian Davies describes evil as `a gap between what there is and what there ought to be`. Augustine`s argument that evil has resulted from the abuse of human free will has also been supported by modern thinkers. It seems clear that humans choosing to act in the wrong ways cause much of the evil and suffering in the world.
Another idea related to this is the idea of predestination which was the view of the philosopher- John Calvin. Predestination is the idea that our lives are set/planned out previous to the start of our lives. Calvin said that man is “inherently evil and is not capable of good as his free will chooses to reject God”. Therefore, this suggests that God has predestined our lives as to those who will be saved and who will not. This further reinforces that we have no choice or influence on our lives and the events that happen, so therefore God will know the ethical decisions we will make as he has already predestined them in our lives.
St. Augustine’s City of God The original sin plays a significant role in St. Augustine’s views on the natural law theory. Evil is considered contrary to nature and since God did not create man with evil in mind, before the Fall, men lived in harmony with natural law and enjoyed immortality and peace away from evil. After the Fall, however, men became mortal and vulnerable to evil. Men are separated in to two main groups by St. Augustine; those who chose to live by the