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Displaying: 1-8 of 8 documents


1. Forum Philosophicum: Volume > 18 > Issue: 1
James A. Harold Distinguishing the Lover of Peace from the Pacifist, the Appeaser, and the Warmonger
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How is one to distinguish a true lover of peace from a mere appeaser, a pacifist, and a warmonger? Distinguishing them can be sometimes confusing,as they will often appropriate each other’s language. The criterion for the above distinction does not only lie in outward behavior, as knowledge of inward attitudesis also required. A right understanding of these attitudes and motivations involve at least an implicit grasp of the true nature of peace, which is investigated as something more than the mere absence of war, insofar as peace is primarily a work of two moral virtues: justice and charity. It is in the spirit of justice and charity that the true lover of peace must then distinguish—both in one’s own life and with nations—between what can be ignored and / or forgiven, and what must be redressed. Furthermore, the distinction between the lover of peace and the pacifist, with the possibility of pacifism being a distinct tradition from just war philosophy, is investigated. The argument is made that pacifism should not be considered outside the context of just war because one needs that context toaddress if and who demands restitution.
2. Forum Philosophicum: Volume > 18 > Issue: 1
Edgar Valdez Kant, Augustine, and Room for Faith
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In this paper I argue for a notion of conversion in Kant’s critical philosophy by drawing a connection between the conversions to be found in Kant and the intellectual, moral, and religious conversions of Augustine. I liken Augustine’s Platonic metaphysics of God to Kant’s antinomy of Pure Reason as an intellectual conversion. I link Augustine’s moral conversion with Kant’s metamaxim to commit to a use of reason that is free from the influence of inclination. I connect Augustine’s religious conversion with Kant’s recognition of God as the postulated condition for the highest good. There are advantages to understandingthe conversions in Kant for understanding how his critical philosophy views faith more generally. The conversions in Kant point to the practical necessity offaith as Kant understands it. Such an interpretation also unifies Kant’s contribution to the conversation on the relationship between faith and reason. For Kantfaith, much like knowledge, is a form of holding true and as such is reasonable.
3. Forum Philosophicum: Volume > 18 > Issue: 1
Georgios Patios Kierkegaard’s Construction of the Human Self
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The purpose of this article is to analyze Kierkegaard’s philosophical views concerning the problem of the nature of the human self. With the help of aclose examination of Kierkegaard’s texts the Concept of Anxiety and the Sickness unto Death, we argue that Kierkegaard “constructs” the human self in a specificway. this way reveals, through the examination by Kierkegaard of “anxiety” and “despair,” three main characteristics of the human self: a) the self is a dynamicprocess, always “becoming” in time through free will and freedom of choice, b) the human self is always a historical self, so that history is then a direct product of“becoming a self,” and c) the human self, in order to be “whole,” must freely ground itself in a transcendental being (God).
4. Forum Philosophicum: Volume > 18 > Issue: 1
M. Andrew Holowchak The Fear, Honor, and Love of God: Thomas Jefferson on Jews, Philosophers, and Jesus
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In a letter to Benjamin Rush, Jefferson includes a syllabus—a comparative account of the merits of Jewish morality, ancient philosophy, and the precepts of Jesus. Using the syllabus as a guide, this paper is a critical examination of the influence of ancient ethical and religious thinking on Jefferson’s ethical and religious thinking—viz., Jefferson’s views of the ethics and religion of the Hebrews, the ancient philosophers, and Jesus.
5. Forum Philosophicum: Volume > 18 > Issue: 1
Yishai Cohen Skeptical Theism and the Threshold Problem
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In this paper I articulate and defend a new anti-theodicy challenge to Skeptical Theism. More specifically, I defend the Threshold Problem according to which there is a threshold to the kinds of evils that are in principle justifiable for God to permit, and certain instances of evil are beyond that threshold. I further argue that Skeptical Theism does not have the resources to adequately rebut the Threshold Problem. I argue for this claim by drawing a distinction between a weak and strong version of Skeptical Theism, such that the strong version must be defended in order to rebut the Threshold Problem. However, the skeptical theist’s appeal to our limited cognitive faculties only supports the weak version.
6. Forum Philosophicum: Volume > 18 > Issue: 1
Leland R. Harper A Deistic Discussion of Murphy and Tracy’s Accounts of God’s Limited Activity in the Natural World
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Seemingly, in an attempt to appease both the micro-physicists and the classical theists, Nancey Murphy and Thomas Tracy have each developed accountsof God which allow for Him to act, in an otherwise causally closed natural world, through various micro-processes at the subatomic level. I argue that notonly do each of these views skew the accounts of both micro-physics and theism just enough to preclude the appeasement of either group but that both accountscan aptly be classified as, what I term, epistemic deism. I go on to argue that epistemic deism is a weak brand of deism that ultimately provides us with little to noanswers to any of serious questions discussed within the philosophy or religion.
7. Forum Philosophicum: Volume > 18 > Issue: 1
Igor Gasparov Substance Dualism and the Unity of Consciousness
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In this paper I would like to defend three interconnected claims. The first stems from the fact that the definition of substance dualism recently proposed by Dean Zimmerman needs some essential adjustments in order to capture the genuine spirit of the doctrine. In this paper I will formulate the conditions for genuine substance dualism, as distinct from quasi-dualisms, and provide a definition for genuine substance dualism that I consider more appropriate than Zimmerman’s.The second is that none of the currently proposed forms of substance dualism are able to provide a satisfactory account of conscious subjectivity. To support this claim I present two arguments, the first against Cartesian Dualism, the other against Emergent Dualism. The third, I believe, derives from the two just mentioned: if the dualistic arguments against the ability of physicalist theories to provide a sound account of the unity of the subject of consciousness are persuasive enough, then, in order to acquire a more adequate account of the unity of the conscious subject, we will have to look more closely at such forms of quasi-dualism as spiritualism or a broadly Aristotelian view of human persons.
8. Forum Philosophicum: Volume > 18 > Issue: 1
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