28 September 2008
Philosophy of Religion, L-Z
Lessing, Gotthold (1729-1781). German philosopher, literary author and critic who developed a historical conception of religion and religious truth. For Lessing, the great world religions are primarily way stations in the ethical progress of humankind; none is absolutely true. He is famous for his conception of the “ugly, wide ditch” between “eternal truths of reason” and the truths of history. He argued that this logical gap makes it impossible to embrace the historical claims of Christianity with the kind of certainty religion demands.
Levinas, Emmanual (1906-1996). Jewish philosopher who spent his career in France, though born in Lithuania. Levinas is distinguished by his emphasis on ethics as “first philosophy” and by his claim that ethics is grounded in a direct experience of the “gaze of the other” rather than theory. Levinas taught that true religion grows out of this same encounter with the Other, in which we discover a God who cannot be viewed as an object.
Lewis, C.S. (1898-1963). Belfast-born English literary critic, novelist and Christian apologist. The popularity and simplicity of Lewis’s philosophical apologetics belie the intellectual depth of his work. His Mere Christianity is probably the most successful work of Christian apologetics of the twentieth century, and his Narnia books are beloved by children and adults for their wonderful blend of charm, fantasy and theological insight. Lewis grappled with the problem of evil in The Problem of Pain and with supernaturalism in Miracles. The Abolition of Man focuses on the importance of emotion and objective moral truths to our understanding of human nature.
Liberation theology. A theological movement that developed in Latin America in the 1960’s, emphasizing the gospel as a power that liberates oppressed peoples from unjust economic, political and social structures. Liberation theology is rooted in the special concern the bible shows for the poor, but it has created controversy by sometimes relying on Marxist-inspired analyses of the causes of poverty and oppression.
Libertarianism (political). In political philosophy, the view that individual human freedom is a primary value and that government restrictions on that freedom should be limited to what is necessary for the maintenance of a society that is conducive to freedom. Thus libertarianism offers a justification of state power over against anarchism, but it holds that there is moral justification only for a minimal state sufficient to defend citizens against attack and protect against crime.
Luther, Martin (1483-1546). German theologian and father of the Protestant Reformation. The heart of Luther’s understanding of the gospel stressed that salvation was a free work of grace that is grasped through faith. Persons are not saved because of any merits they may possess but because the work of Christ is imputed to them by God.
MacIntyre, Alasdair (1929- ). British-American philosopher best known for his defense of an Aristotelian ethical theory in After Virtue. MacIntyre gives special emphasis to the role of tradition and “practices” in ethics, and he attempts to develop a historical understanding of ethics that is not historicist (in the sense of relativistic ally losing any concern for truth), with special attention paid to adjudicating the claims of rival traditions. After an early flirtation with Marxism, MacIntyre has returned to the Christian faith.
Manichaeism. Religious view developed by Manes (c. 216-276), who saw himself as a prophet succeeding Jesus and Zoroaster. Manichaeism competed with Christianity in the late Roman Empire, and no less a person that St. Augustine went through a Manichaean period on his way to Christianity. Manichaeism is characterized by a dualistic ontology that sees matter and the physical world as bad, in tension with the pure world of spirit and light. The human task is to gain freedom from the physical world through ascetic practices.
Marcel, Gabriel-Honore (1889-1973). French Catholic philosopher and playwright who represented the religious wing of existentialism over against Jean Paul Sartre’s atheism. Marcel emphasized the role of mysteries (which are distinguished from problems) in philosophy. He saw human existence as a journey and said the ambiguities of human life call forth a response from us that reveals our own character. “Creative fidelity” is Marcel’s term for the response that is crucial to understanding other people and God.
Marx, Karl (1818-1883). Revolutionary German thinker, trained as a social philosopher, who spent much of his life in England writing his major work, Capital. Marx was originally a left-wing follower of G. W. F. Hegel but became a materialist following Ludwig Feuerbach and “turned Hegel right side up” by applying Hegel’s dialectic to an analysis of history as the product of economic class struggle. In his early work Marx used religious and philosophical language, but he substituted economic analysis in his later writings. His Communist Manifesto, coauthored with Friedrich Engels, was a seminal document in the development of communism.
Marxism. Revolutionary philosophical movement founded by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Marxism sees economic factors as determinative in history, with social class struggles shaped by the means of production that characterize a given economic system. Further, Marxism sees capitalism as nearing the end of history, since under capitalism human productivity has increased so much that the elimination of human need is possible for the first time. Marx predicted that capitalism will collapse because it creates an ever-increasing class of property-less workers (the proletariat). As wealth is centred in a small number of capitalists, overproduction, due to the lack of purchasing power by the masses, will become a crisis. Eventually, the workers will overthrow the system, creating a dictatorship of the proletariat that will progressively eliminate the state as social classes disappear. Ironically, the countries where revolutionary movements committed to Marxism have succeeded have been relatively backward countries such as Russia and China. Though communism as a revolutionary movement seems a spent force, Marxism as a philosophical theory is still influential in the academy.
Materialism. The view that only material objects exist. Materialism is sometimes used as a synonym for physicalism, but some thinkers distinguish the two by allowing that physicalism holds that only matter and energy exist. Some materialists define their view in terms of science and claim that ultimate reality consists of whatever particles or entities are discovered by physicists.
Metaphysics. The branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of reality. Literally, metaphysics is that which is “beyond” or “after” physics, since it deals with questions such as the following: Are the entities postulated by science real? Does God exist? Do numbers and other mathematical objects exist independently of the human mind? The term is sometimes used pejoratively, the designate an attempt to develop an impossible “super science” that would achieve completeness and certainty. It is also used as a synonym for ontology, the name for the study of being.
Neo-Platonism. One of the schools of Hellenistic philosophy, loosely inspired by Plato. Plotinus (205-270) was the seminal figure and most famous representative of Neo-Platonism. Neo-Platonism emphasizes that all of reality emanates through a hierarchical series from the One, the Form of the Good, and that it is destined to return to the One. This philosophy’s tendencies toward the depreciation of matter and cultivation of ascetic practices made a strong impact on many of the church fathers.
Nietzsche, Friedrich (1844-1900). German philosopher whose radical views on human thinking as perspectival and shaped by the “will to power” have had a profound impact on thinkers who came after him. Nietzsche announced the death of God, and as a consequence he affirmed that moralities are human creations. Previous human history has seen the “slave revolt” in morality, in which the “herd morality” of good and evil (Judaism, Christianity, socialism) has overthrown the earlier “master morality” of good and bad (the warrior culture of Homeric Greece that was the work of the natural aristocrats. Nietzsche himself proposed that the “Overman” may now go beyond good and evil and invent a new form of morality. Nietzsche saw the virtues of herd morality as a disguised form of envy, in which the weak express their resentment of the strong by affirming that the poor and the meek are blessed.
Nihilism. The rejection of objective moral values and structures, literally “nothingism.” The nihilist is a skeptic about moral traditions and obligations and does not regard them as binding. A distinction should be made between the attitude of the reluctant or sorrowing nihilist, who finds nihilism terrifying but true, and the celebrative nihilist, who views nihilism as liberation from oppressive rules. Friedrich Nietzsche is often mentioned in discussion of nihilism, partly because of his own ambivalence. Nietzsche sometimes described nihilism as a fate that haunts Western culture. At other times he seems more celebrative in his calls for the construction of a new morality. For those who believe morality requires a transcendent basis, Nietzsche’s philosophy appears nihilistic, but for naturalists who think that humans can themselves provide a basis for morality, Nietzsche is seen as a guide pointing beyond nihilism.
Nominalism. The claim that universal terms such as goodness, justice and fatherhood are merely names and do not denote any objective, universal qualities. Thus the nominalist holds a view opposite to that of the Platonic realist who accepts the independent reality of universals. Nominalism typically holds that universal terms are used to denote a plurality of individuals who are grouped together by the mind because of perceptions of similarity. This requires the claim that two things can be similar without sharing in common some universal property.
Ockham, William of (c. 1285-1349). English medieval philosopher known as “the subtle doctor.” Ockham was a Franciscan who clashed with the pope and was forced to flee to Pisa and finally Munich because of his criticisms of arbitrary papal power. He is known for his rejection of real universals and is often called the father of nominalism, although many scholars claim that he was really a conceptualist. Ockham is also famous for “Ockham’s razor,” or the principle of parsimony, which says that “entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity.” Though that phrase is not actually found in Ockham’s writings, it is associated with him because of his characteristic style of philosophizing.
Ontology. The study of being. Ontology is often considered to be equivalent to metaphysics, but some thinkers, such as Martin Heidegger, have viewed ontology as a quest to understand the meaning of being, in contrast to metaphysics as inquiry about specific types of entities.
Pantheism. The belief that God and the world are identical. The most famous Western defender of pantheism is Baruch Spinoza, who claimed that God and Nature are two names for the same reality, which has mind and material extension as two of its attributes. The term is also used to describe the absolute monism of Advaita Vedanta Hinduism, which holds that the whole of reality is identical with the one Absolute that is God, and that the distinctions we draw between objects are just part of appearances.
Pascal, Blaise (1623-1662). French philosopher, mathematician and physicist whose writings about Christianity have had a profound influence. In his posthumously published Pensees, Pascal brilliantly analyzed the ambiguities of the human situation and made a case for belief in a world where human reason cannot achieve absolute certainty. One argument must discussed is “Pascal’s wager,” in which he claimed that the eternal good that may be obtained through faith in God makes it prudentially rational to opt for faith even if objective certainty cannot be obtained.
Wager argument. An argument developed by Blaise Pascal that urges an unbeliever to attempt to develop faith in God even if the evidence for God’s existence is not decisive. Pascal compared belief and unbelief in God to a wager and pointed out the potential gains and losses each bet holds. If some bet on God and are wrong, they will lose only the paltry pleasure from some sins in this life that they might have enjoyed. If others bet on God and are right, however, they stand to gain enternal bliss. The potential gains and losses are thus staggeringly disproportionate, and Pascal urged the unbeliever to pray, attend Mass and do whatever else may be necessary to develop faith.
Peirce, Charles Sanders (1839-1914). American philosopher generally regarded as the founder of pragmatism and the inventor of semiotics, or the general theory of signs. Pierce viewed beliefs primarily as rules for action and regarded doubt as an unsatisfactory, disturbed state. He thus inverted the priority given by Renee Descartes to doubt by claiming that one needed to a reason to doubt; the mere logical possibility of a mistake is not a sufficient reason. Peirce’s ideas were popularized by William James and John Dewey.
Philosophy. According to William James, philosophy is simply an unusually obstinate effort to think clearly and deeply about fundamental questions. Interestingly, what counts as philosophy is itself under dispute in philosophy. Philosophy can be identified historically in the West as the kind of activity carried on by such people as Plato, Aristotle, David Hume and Immanuel Kant. It can also be identified with reference to its fundamental questions, such as “What is knowledge?” (epistemology), “What is reality?” (metaphysics), and “What is good?” (ethics). Although some would make a sharp distinction between philosophy and theology, there is substantial overlap in the questions each treats. One way to distinguish between the two is in terms of their audiences: A thinker who is speaking to a religious community and can presuppose the authorities recognized by that community is doing theology. The same thinker addressing a broader community may be doing philosophy.
Platinga, Alvin (1932- ). Leading contemporary philosopher of religion and developer of Reformed Epistemology, along with Nicholas Wolterstorff (who taught with Plantinga many years at Calvin College) and William Alston. Plantinga has criticized evidentialism in philosophy of religion by arguing that religious beliefs in some cases may be “properly basic.” This view is supported by an epistemology that sees knowledge as consisting of true beliefs that are the result of properly functioning faculties, operating according to their “design plan” in a way that is directed at truth, in the kind of environment in which they were intended to function.
Plato (c. 427-347 BC). Perhaps the most influential philosopher of the Western world. Plato’s influence is so vast that Alfred North Whitehead claimed that the history of Western philosophy is merely a series of footnotes to Plato. Plato wrote in the form of dialogues, and his thinking seems to have evolved over time. He is best known for his theory of justice, developed in the Republic, for his defense of the immortality of the soul and for his theory of Forms, which posits an ideal world of universals that the material world copies or participates in. Plato also postulated one supreme or absolute Form—the Form of the Good or the One. His thinking has had a profound impact on Jewish, Christian and Islamic thought, especially as developed by Plotinus and other Neo-Platonist philosophers.
Plotinus (205-270). Hellenistic philosopher who developed Plato’s ideas into a philosophical and religious system that profoundly influenced early Christian writers. Plotinus emphasized the One or the Good—the supreme reality from which all else emanates and to which hall will return. The One is beyond human language and incursive thought. Plotinus blended mystical and ascetic tendencies with philosophical thought.
Realism. The belief that there are real entities that exist independently of human knowers. There are many types of realism, depending on the scope of the theory and the contrasting anti-realist position. One type of antirealism is idealism. The antirealist may hold, for example, with George Berkeley that “to be is to be perceived” and thus that physical objects do not eist if they are unperceived. (However, Berkeley can also be understood as a type of realist in that he claimed that God was always present to perceive objects and thus ground the real existence of entities unperceived by humans.) A popular contemporary form of antirealism holds the true propositions about objects in the world depend on the human concepts employed to understand those objects, and thus what is true about the world depends partly on how we humans think about that world. Realism (and its rival antirealism) can also be restricted to particular regions. Thus one can be a realist (or antirealist) about unobservable scientific entities such as quarks or abstract logical entities such as sets and numbers.
Reid, Thomas (1710-1796). Scottish philosopher widely regarded as the founder of the school of Scottish realism, or Common Sense philosophy. Reid interpreted the philosophy of David Hume as the skeptical outcome of the theory of ideas or mental representations begun by Rene Descartes and John Locke. He developed a form of realism in which sensations are not the direct objects of perception but instead are the means whereby we are directly presented with objects. His thought has had a great influence on Reformed Epistemology. Reid stressed the need to begin with an attitude of trust in our human faculties (reason, perception, memory, testimony) without insisting on rational proof of their reliability.
Relativism. The denial of any absolute or objective standards, especially in ethics (objectivity). Ethical relativists can be individual relativists, who hold that what is morally right is relative to the beliefs or emotions of the individual, or they can be cultural relativists, who hold that what is morally right varies with different societies (subjectivism). Analogously, in epistemology relativism holds that what is true is dependent on the individual or the culture.
Rorty, Richard (1931- ). Leading American proponent of postmodern philosophy. Trained in analytic philosophy, Rorty argues that the collapse of foundationalism should lead us to reject traditional philosophical views of truth as accurate representations of reality in favour of the pragmatism of John Dewey. According to Rorty, the philosopher should take an ironical perspective that recognises no foundation for the views defended other than our own linguistic practices and preferences. Philosophy is a persuasive and rhetorical endeavor that cannot be sharply distinguished from literature.
Rousseau, Jean Jacques (1712-1778). French philosopher born in Switzerland whose influence on political theory and theories of education has been enormous. Rousseau saw human individuals as naturally good but corrupted by education and society. His political theory stresses individual freedom but ultimately subordinates the individual to the general will, which is established by a social contract allowing individuals to live together as citizens. Rousseau’s ideas influenced the French Revolution and helped shape the development of Romanticism.
Russell, Bertrand (1872-1970). British logician and advocate of social causes who was one of the founding fathers of analytic philosophy. With Alfred North Whitehead, Russell wrote Principia Mathematica, which attempts to show that the whole of mathematics can be derived from logic. Though Russell frequently changed his philosophical positions, he generally held to some form of realism, regarded science as the paradigm of human knowledge and rejected religion and traditional sexual morality.
Sartre, Jean Paul (1905-1980). French writer and philosopher, most famous for his development of existentialism in the period following World War II. The heart of Sartre’s philosophy is his affirmation of individual freedom and responsibility. Though we do not create our situation, we are always free to negate and interpret our situation and we are ultimately responsible for what we become. Because of his atheism, Sartre insisted that there is no ideal realm of values independent of human choice, but rather we are “forlorn” as we face an “absurd” world.
Skepticism. The denial of genuine human knowledge. Skepticism about particular fields (such as parapsychology)) should be distinguished from general or universal skepticism. In ancient times skepticism (sometimes called Pyrrhonism) was defended by such philosophers as Sextus Empiricus. The ancient skeptics recommended their view as a way of obtaining ataraxia (peace of mind). Skepticism in modern philosophy is sometimes regarded as a methodological tool, as in the philosophy of Rene Descartes. Many attempts have been made by modern philosophers to refute skeptical arguments that imply that it is no possible to know the external world, that other people have minds or that induction can be rationally justified. Some themes in postmodern and antirealist contemporary philosophy are similar to those of skeptics.
Smith, Wilfred Cantwell (1916-2000). One of the preeminent advocates of pluralistic views toward the world religions. Though Smith was a former Christian missionary to India, he opposed attempts to convert adherents of one major religion to another, arguing that all of these religions represent alternative paths to God. Smith did not look on religions as abstract sets of doctrines but as practices that “become true” in the lives of believers.
Socrates (c. 470-399 BC). One of the most important Greek philosophers, executed by the Athenians on the charge of corrupting youth with his philosophy and undermining the religion of the city by refusing to recognise its gods and introducing new ones. Socrates wrote nothing himself, but he has exercised an incalculable influence on the history of philosophy through his depiction by Plato in a series of dialogues. In daily conversation with Athenians, Socrates challenged and questioned prevailing wisdom, holding that he was wiser than his contemporaries only in recognizing that he knew nothing. True wisdom, said Socrates, was a possession of the gods. He regarded his philosophical work as a divine calling and refused to cease his activity even to save his life. The critical Socrates is regarded as a hero by contemporary secular philosophy, but the religious Socrates (who apparently heard voices and was confident that “nothing can harm a good man in life and death” because “the gods are not indifferent to his fortunes”) is not so widely hailed.
Spinoza, Baruch (1632-1677). One of the most important philosophers of the rationalist tradition, Spinoza was expelled from the Jewish synagogue in Amsterdam for his unorthodox views. Spinoza was a monist who held that fundamentally only one substance exists, known through its two attributes of mind and extension and correctly designated as God or Nature. When we understand the nature of God, we understand that all that happens does so with necessity. True happiness consists in the intellectual love of God when we see the world under the aspect of eternity and accept all that happens as ultimately good. Spinoza believed that philosophy should be done in a geometric method involving self-evident postulates and definitions from which theorems can be proved.
Stoicism. An influential philosophy in ancient Greece and in the Roman world that emphasized a person’s control over the emotions. Founded by Zeno of Citium (334-262 BC; not to be confused with Zeno the Eleatic, famous for his paradoxes), Stoicism evolved over time, with three periods usually distinguished: Early Stoicism, Middle Stoicism and Roman Stoicism. Most surviving Stoic writings come from the last period, with the slave Epictetus and the emperor Marcus Aurelius being two of the most famous Stoics. Stoicism was characterized by a conviction that the universe has a rational structure and that whatever happens does so with necessity. True virtue requires an acceptance of external events; the virtuous person lives in accordance with the reason that shapes the universe and gains contentment by an attitude of indifference to the external goods and evils that most people desire and fear.
Structuralism. An interdisciplinary movement with its origins in linguistics and French philosophy that emphasizes the way in which the meanings of symbols are determined by their relationships to other symbols in a system. Structuralists see language and other human activities (including religious rituals) as reflecting deep, universal structures often expressed in myth.
Subjectivism. Philosophy or life perspective that attempts to view what is normally thought to be objectively true or false as subjective. In ethics, emotivism, which views ethical judgments as expressions of subjective emotions, is an example of subjectivism. Subjectivism is in effect a type of individual relativism.
Taoism. An ancient philosophical and religious worldview developed in China. The term derives from the Chinese word tao, meaning “the way.” Taoists believe that there is an underlying metaphysical and ethical structure to the cosmos and that humans who understand this can order their lives rightly. However, this structure, or tao, is ineffable, and thus our knowledge of it is not propositional in character. The most famous Taoist philosophers were Chuang-tzu and Lao-tzu.
Theodicy. An answer to the problem of evil that attempts to “justify the ways of God to man” by explaining God’s reasons for allowing evil. Two of the more important theodicies are the “soul-making theodicy,” which argues that God allows evil so as to make it possible for humans to develop certain desirable virtues, and the “free will theodicy,” which argues that God had to allow for the possibility of evil if he wished to give humans (and angelic beings) free will. Theodicies are often distinguished from defenses, which argue that is it reasonable to believe that God has reasons for allowing evil even if we do not know what those reasons are.
Utilitarianism. The ethical theory, held by such thinkers as Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, asserting that moral rightness is determined by what leads to the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Tradition utilitarians identify the greatest good with happiness and define happiness in terms of pleasure and the absence of pain, while “ideal” utilitarians are willing to include other goods than pleasure in their calculation of benefits. The traditional view is held by many animal rights advocates, who argue that the pleasures and pain of animals have great moral weight (equal to humans, in some cases). Act utilitarians hold that what is morally right is determined by the consequences of particular acts, while rule utilitarians hold that morality is a matter of conforming to rules or principles and that the right set of principles consists of those that would, if followed, lead to the greatest good for the greatest number.
Whitehead, Alfred North (1861-1947). English logician, mathematician and philosopher, whose later metaphysical work provided the inspiration for process theology. Whitehead first achieved fame as the coauthor, with Bertrand Russell, or Principia Mathematica, one of the seminal works of modern symbolic logic. Whitehead’s later metaphysical work attempts to reject the notion of substance as philosophically basic by taking organically related events as basic to ontology. God functions in this system not as a personal agent but more as the ground of possibilities and alluring ideal that leads to their actualization.
Wicca. A religion that centers on witchcraft and the revival of pagan practices. Wiccans deny that their religion involves the worship of Satan and see themselves as fostering a religion that is close to nature and affirmative of such elements of paganism as the worship of “the goddess”—a practice that is linked by Wiccans to radical forms of feminist thought.
Wittgenstein, Ludwig (1889-1951). Austrian-born philosopher who had his greatest impact on Anglo-American philosophy. Early in his career Wittgenstein expounded a picture theory of meaning that regarded complex propositions as functions of “atomic propositions” that pictures “atomic facts.” According to this view, ethical and religious propositions belong to “the mystical,” which cannot be expressed in language. The later Wittgenstein developed a more flexible theory of language that emphasized how meaning is a function of use. Words are used in many different contexts as part of “language games,” and meaning must be situated with reference to that language game and the form of life in which the game has its home. Some of the later Wittgenstein’s thoughts on religion have been developed into Wittgensteinian fideism, which emphasizes the autonomy of the religious language game and denies the need for any justification of religious belief. In the thought of some of its proponents, however, this Wittgensteinian view is linked to religious antirealism, in which religious propositions do not state facts that can be objectively true or false.
Zen Buddhism. A form of Buddhism that originated in China and then spread to Japan. Zen Buddhism is a type of Mahayana Buddhism which holds out the possibility that individuals can attain the status of Buddhahood through following various esoteric teachings and exercises. The teachings of Zen do not lend themselves to straightforward explanation, as its adherents hold that the path to enlightenment cannot be discursively described.
Zoroastrianism. A religion from ancient Persian (Iran) that dominated that region prior to the coming of Islam but is today a small minority faith. Named for the prophet Zoroaster (or Zarathustra), whose dates are unknown, Zoroastrianism became the official religion of Persia from the third century BC until the seventh century AD. It is characterized by a dualism in which Ahura Mazda, the god of light and goodness, struggles to overcome a powerful evil spirit, although contemporary Zoroastrians claim that they are monotheists and do not necessarily see the physical world as bad, as in the ontological dualism of Manichaeism.
Pocket Dictionary of Apologetics & Philosophy of Religion, C. Stephen Evans
Levinas, Emmanual (1906-1996). Jewish philosopher who spent his career in France, though born in Lithuania. Levinas is distinguished by his emphasis on ethics as “first philosophy” and by his claim that ethics is grounded in a direct experience of the “gaze of the other” rather than theory. Levinas taught that true religion grows out of this same encounter with the Other, in which we discover a God who cannot be viewed as an object.
Lewis, C.S. (1898-1963). Belfast-born English literary critic, novelist and Christian apologist. The popularity and simplicity of Lewis’s philosophical apologetics belie the intellectual depth of his work. His Mere Christianity is probably the most successful work of Christian apologetics of the twentieth century, and his Narnia books are beloved by children and adults for their wonderful blend of charm, fantasy and theological insight. Lewis grappled with the problem of evil in The Problem of Pain and with supernaturalism in Miracles. The Abolition of Man focuses on the importance of emotion and objective moral truths to our understanding of human nature.
Liberation theology. A theological movement that developed in Latin America in the 1960’s, emphasizing the gospel as a power that liberates oppressed peoples from unjust economic, political and social structures. Liberation theology is rooted in the special concern the bible shows for the poor, but it has created controversy by sometimes relying on Marxist-inspired analyses of the causes of poverty and oppression.
Libertarianism (political). In political philosophy, the view that individual human freedom is a primary value and that government restrictions on that freedom should be limited to what is necessary for the maintenance of a society that is conducive to freedom. Thus libertarianism offers a justification of state power over against anarchism, but it holds that there is moral justification only for a minimal state sufficient to defend citizens against attack and protect against crime.
Luther, Martin (1483-1546). German theologian and father of the Protestant Reformation. The heart of Luther’s understanding of the gospel stressed that salvation was a free work of grace that is grasped through faith. Persons are not saved because of any merits they may possess but because the work of Christ is imputed to them by God.
MacIntyre, Alasdair (1929- ). British-American philosopher best known for his defense of an Aristotelian ethical theory in After Virtue. MacIntyre gives special emphasis to the role of tradition and “practices” in ethics, and he attempts to develop a historical understanding of ethics that is not historicist (in the sense of relativistic ally losing any concern for truth), with special attention paid to adjudicating the claims of rival traditions. After an early flirtation with Marxism, MacIntyre has returned to the Christian faith.
Manichaeism. Religious view developed by Manes (c. 216-276), who saw himself as a prophet succeeding Jesus and Zoroaster. Manichaeism competed with Christianity in the late Roman Empire, and no less a person that St. Augustine went through a Manichaean period on his way to Christianity. Manichaeism is characterized by a dualistic ontology that sees matter and the physical world as bad, in tension with the pure world of spirit and light. The human task is to gain freedom from the physical world through ascetic practices.
Marcel, Gabriel-Honore (1889-1973). French Catholic philosopher and playwright who represented the religious wing of existentialism over against Jean Paul Sartre’s atheism. Marcel emphasized the role of mysteries (which are distinguished from problems) in philosophy. He saw human existence as a journey and said the ambiguities of human life call forth a response from us that reveals our own character. “Creative fidelity” is Marcel’s term for the response that is crucial to understanding other people and God.
Marx, Karl (1818-1883). Revolutionary German thinker, trained as a social philosopher, who spent much of his life in England writing his major work, Capital. Marx was originally a left-wing follower of G. W. F. Hegel but became a materialist following Ludwig Feuerbach and “turned Hegel right side up” by applying Hegel’s dialectic to an analysis of history as the product of economic class struggle. In his early work Marx used religious and philosophical language, but he substituted economic analysis in his later writings. His Communist Manifesto, coauthored with Friedrich Engels, was a seminal document in the development of communism.
Marxism. Revolutionary philosophical movement founded by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Marxism sees economic factors as determinative in history, with social class struggles shaped by the means of production that characterize a given economic system. Further, Marxism sees capitalism as nearing the end of history, since under capitalism human productivity has increased so much that the elimination of human need is possible for the first time. Marx predicted that capitalism will collapse because it creates an ever-increasing class of property-less workers (the proletariat). As wealth is centred in a small number of capitalists, overproduction, due to the lack of purchasing power by the masses, will become a crisis. Eventually, the workers will overthrow the system, creating a dictatorship of the proletariat that will progressively eliminate the state as social classes disappear. Ironically, the countries where revolutionary movements committed to Marxism have succeeded have been relatively backward countries such as Russia and China. Though communism as a revolutionary movement seems a spent force, Marxism as a philosophical theory is still influential in the academy.
Materialism. The view that only material objects exist. Materialism is sometimes used as a synonym for physicalism, but some thinkers distinguish the two by allowing that physicalism holds that only matter and energy exist. Some materialists define their view in terms of science and claim that ultimate reality consists of whatever particles or entities are discovered by physicists.
Metaphysics. The branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of reality. Literally, metaphysics is that which is “beyond” or “after” physics, since it deals with questions such as the following: Are the entities postulated by science real? Does God exist? Do numbers and other mathematical objects exist independently of the human mind? The term is sometimes used pejoratively, the designate an attempt to develop an impossible “super science” that would achieve completeness and certainty. It is also used as a synonym for ontology, the name for the study of being.
Neo-Platonism. One of the schools of Hellenistic philosophy, loosely inspired by Plato. Plotinus (205-270) was the seminal figure and most famous representative of Neo-Platonism. Neo-Platonism emphasizes that all of reality emanates through a hierarchical series from the One, the Form of the Good, and that it is destined to return to the One. This philosophy’s tendencies toward the depreciation of matter and cultivation of ascetic practices made a strong impact on many of the church fathers.
Nietzsche, Friedrich (1844-1900). German philosopher whose radical views on human thinking as perspectival and shaped by the “will to power” have had a profound impact on thinkers who came after him. Nietzsche announced the death of God, and as a consequence he affirmed that moralities are human creations. Previous human history has seen the “slave revolt” in morality, in which the “herd morality” of good and evil (Judaism, Christianity, socialism) has overthrown the earlier “master morality” of good and bad (the warrior culture of Homeric Greece that was the work of the natural aristocrats. Nietzsche himself proposed that the “Overman” may now go beyond good and evil and invent a new form of morality. Nietzsche saw the virtues of herd morality as a disguised form of envy, in which the weak express their resentment of the strong by affirming that the poor and the meek are blessed.
Nihilism. The rejection of objective moral values and structures, literally “nothingism.” The nihilist is a skeptic about moral traditions and obligations and does not regard them as binding. A distinction should be made between the attitude of the reluctant or sorrowing nihilist, who finds nihilism terrifying but true, and the celebrative nihilist, who views nihilism as liberation from oppressive rules. Friedrich Nietzsche is often mentioned in discussion of nihilism, partly because of his own ambivalence. Nietzsche sometimes described nihilism as a fate that haunts Western culture. At other times he seems more celebrative in his calls for the construction of a new morality. For those who believe morality requires a transcendent basis, Nietzsche’s philosophy appears nihilistic, but for naturalists who think that humans can themselves provide a basis for morality, Nietzsche is seen as a guide pointing beyond nihilism.
Nominalism. The claim that universal terms such as goodness, justice and fatherhood are merely names and do not denote any objective, universal qualities. Thus the nominalist holds a view opposite to that of the Platonic realist who accepts the independent reality of universals. Nominalism typically holds that universal terms are used to denote a plurality of individuals who are grouped together by the mind because of perceptions of similarity. This requires the claim that two things can be similar without sharing in common some universal property.
Ockham, William of (c. 1285-1349). English medieval philosopher known as “the subtle doctor.” Ockham was a Franciscan who clashed with the pope and was forced to flee to Pisa and finally Munich because of his criticisms of arbitrary papal power. He is known for his rejection of real universals and is often called the father of nominalism, although many scholars claim that he was really a conceptualist. Ockham is also famous for “Ockham’s razor,” or the principle of parsimony, which says that “entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity.” Though that phrase is not actually found in Ockham’s writings, it is associated with him because of his characteristic style of philosophizing.
Ontology. The study of being. Ontology is often considered to be equivalent to metaphysics, but some thinkers, such as Martin Heidegger, have viewed ontology as a quest to understand the meaning of being, in contrast to metaphysics as inquiry about specific types of entities.
Pantheism. The belief that God and the world are identical. The most famous Western defender of pantheism is Baruch Spinoza, who claimed that God and Nature are two names for the same reality, which has mind and material extension as two of its attributes. The term is also used to describe the absolute monism of Advaita Vedanta Hinduism, which holds that the whole of reality is identical with the one Absolute that is God, and that the distinctions we draw between objects are just part of appearances.
Pascal, Blaise (1623-1662). French philosopher, mathematician and physicist whose writings about Christianity have had a profound influence. In his posthumously published Pensees, Pascal brilliantly analyzed the ambiguities of the human situation and made a case for belief in a world where human reason cannot achieve absolute certainty. One argument must discussed is “Pascal’s wager,” in which he claimed that the eternal good that may be obtained through faith in God makes it prudentially rational to opt for faith even if objective certainty cannot be obtained.
Wager argument. An argument developed by Blaise Pascal that urges an unbeliever to attempt to develop faith in God even if the evidence for God’s existence is not decisive. Pascal compared belief and unbelief in God to a wager and pointed out the potential gains and losses each bet holds. If some bet on God and are wrong, they will lose only the paltry pleasure from some sins in this life that they might have enjoyed. If others bet on God and are right, however, they stand to gain enternal bliss. The potential gains and losses are thus staggeringly disproportionate, and Pascal urged the unbeliever to pray, attend Mass and do whatever else may be necessary to develop faith.
Peirce, Charles Sanders (1839-1914). American philosopher generally regarded as the founder of pragmatism and the inventor of semiotics, or the general theory of signs. Pierce viewed beliefs primarily as rules for action and regarded doubt as an unsatisfactory, disturbed state. He thus inverted the priority given by Renee Descartes to doubt by claiming that one needed to a reason to doubt; the mere logical possibility of a mistake is not a sufficient reason. Peirce’s ideas were popularized by William James and John Dewey.
Philosophy. According to William James, philosophy is simply an unusually obstinate effort to think clearly and deeply about fundamental questions. Interestingly, what counts as philosophy is itself under dispute in philosophy. Philosophy can be identified historically in the West as the kind of activity carried on by such people as Plato, Aristotle, David Hume and Immanuel Kant. It can also be identified with reference to its fundamental questions, such as “What is knowledge?” (epistemology), “What is reality?” (metaphysics), and “What is good?” (ethics). Although some would make a sharp distinction between philosophy and theology, there is substantial overlap in the questions each treats. One way to distinguish between the two is in terms of their audiences: A thinker who is speaking to a religious community and can presuppose the authorities recognized by that community is doing theology. The same thinker addressing a broader community may be doing philosophy.
Platinga, Alvin (1932- ). Leading contemporary philosopher of religion and developer of Reformed Epistemology, along with Nicholas Wolterstorff (who taught with Plantinga many years at Calvin College) and William Alston. Plantinga has criticized evidentialism in philosophy of religion by arguing that religious beliefs in some cases may be “properly basic.” This view is supported by an epistemology that sees knowledge as consisting of true beliefs that are the result of properly functioning faculties, operating according to their “design plan” in a way that is directed at truth, in the kind of environment in which they were intended to function.
Plato (c. 427-347 BC). Perhaps the most influential philosopher of the Western world. Plato’s influence is so vast that Alfred North Whitehead claimed that the history of Western philosophy is merely a series of footnotes to Plato. Plato wrote in the form of dialogues, and his thinking seems to have evolved over time. He is best known for his theory of justice, developed in the Republic, for his defense of the immortality of the soul and for his theory of Forms, which posits an ideal world of universals that the material world copies or participates in. Plato also postulated one supreme or absolute Form—the Form of the Good or the One. His thinking has had a profound impact on Jewish, Christian and Islamic thought, especially as developed by Plotinus and other Neo-Platonist philosophers.
Plotinus (205-270). Hellenistic philosopher who developed Plato’s ideas into a philosophical and religious system that profoundly influenced early Christian writers. Plotinus emphasized the One or the Good—the supreme reality from which all else emanates and to which hall will return. The One is beyond human language and incursive thought. Plotinus blended mystical and ascetic tendencies with philosophical thought.
Realism. The belief that there are real entities that exist independently of human knowers. There are many types of realism, depending on the scope of the theory and the contrasting anti-realist position. One type of antirealism is idealism. The antirealist may hold, for example, with George Berkeley that “to be is to be perceived” and thus that physical objects do not eist if they are unperceived. (However, Berkeley can also be understood as a type of realist in that he claimed that God was always present to perceive objects and thus ground the real existence of entities unperceived by humans.) A popular contemporary form of antirealism holds the true propositions about objects in the world depend on the human concepts employed to understand those objects, and thus what is true about the world depends partly on how we humans think about that world. Realism (and its rival antirealism) can also be restricted to particular regions. Thus one can be a realist (or antirealist) about unobservable scientific entities such as quarks or abstract logical entities such as sets and numbers.
Reid, Thomas (1710-1796). Scottish philosopher widely regarded as the founder of the school of Scottish realism, or Common Sense philosophy. Reid interpreted the philosophy of David Hume as the skeptical outcome of the theory of ideas or mental representations begun by Rene Descartes and John Locke. He developed a form of realism in which sensations are not the direct objects of perception but instead are the means whereby we are directly presented with objects. His thought has had a great influence on Reformed Epistemology. Reid stressed the need to begin with an attitude of trust in our human faculties (reason, perception, memory, testimony) without insisting on rational proof of their reliability.
Relativism. The denial of any absolute or objective standards, especially in ethics (objectivity). Ethical relativists can be individual relativists, who hold that what is morally right is relative to the beliefs or emotions of the individual, or they can be cultural relativists, who hold that what is morally right varies with different societies (subjectivism). Analogously, in epistemology relativism holds that what is true is dependent on the individual or the culture.
Rorty, Richard (1931- ). Leading American proponent of postmodern philosophy. Trained in analytic philosophy, Rorty argues that the collapse of foundationalism should lead us to reject traditional philosophical views of truth as accurate representations of reality in favour of the pragmatism of John Dewey. According to Rorty, the philosopher should take an ironical perspective that recognises no foundation for the views defended other than our own linguistic practices and preferences. Philosophy is a persuasive and rhetorical endeavor that cannot be sharply distinguished from literature.
Rousseau, Jean Jacques (1712-1778). French philosopher born in Switzerland whose influence on political theory and theories of education has been enormous. Rousseau saw human individuals as naturally good but corrupted by education and society. His political theory stresses individual freedom but ultimately subordinates the individual to the general will, which is established by a social contract allowing individuals to live together as citizens. Rousseau’s ideas influenced the French Revolution and helped shape the development of Romanticism.
Russell, Bertrand (1872-1970). British logician and advocate of social causes who was one of the founding fathers of analytic philosophy. With Alfred North Whitehead, Russell wrote Principia Mathematica, which attempts to show that the whole of mathematics can be derived from logic. Though Russell frequently changed his philosophical positions, he generally held to some form of realism, regarded science as the paradigm of human knowledge and rejected religion and traditional sexual morality.
Sartre, Jean Paul (1905-1980). French writer and philosopher, most famous for his development of existentialism in the period following World War II. The heart of Sartre’s philosophy is his affirmation of individual freedom and responsibility. Though we do not create our situation, we are always free to negate and interpret our situation and we are ultimately responsible for what we become. Because of his atheism, Sartre insisted that there is no ideal realm of values independent of human choice, but rather we are “forlorn” as we face an “absurd” world.
Skepticism. The denial of genuine human knowledge. Skepticism about particular fields (such as parapsychology)) should be distinguished from general or universal skepticism. In ancient times skepticism (sometimes called Pyrrhonism) was defended by such philosophers as Sextus Empiricus. The ancient skeptics recommended their view as a way of obtaining ataraxia (peace of mind). Skepticism in modern philosophy is sometimes regarded as a methodological tool, as in the philosophy of Rene Descartes. Many attempts have been made by modern philosophers to refute skeptical arguments that imply that it is no possible to know the external world, that other people have minds or that induction can be rationally justified. Some themes in postmodern and antirealist contemporary philosophy are similar to those of skeptics.
Smith, Wilfred Cantwell (1916-2000). One of the preeminent advocates of pluralistic views toward the world religions. Though Smith was a former Christian missionary to India, he opposed attempts to convert adherents of one major religion to another, arguing that all of these religions represent alternative paths to God. Smith did not look on religions as abstract sets of doctrines but as practices that “become true” in the lives of believers.
Socrates (c. 470-399 BC). One of the most important Greek philosophers, executed by the Athenians on the charge of corrupting youth with his philosophy and undermining the religion of the city by refusing to recognise its gods and introducing new ones. Socrates wrote nothing himself, but he has exercised an incalculable influence on the history of philosophy through his depiction by Plato in a series of dialogues. In daily conversation with Athenians, Socrates challenged and questioned prevailing wisdom, holding that he was wiser than his contemporaries only in recognizing that he knew nothing. True wisdom, said Socrates, was a possession of the gods. He regarded his philosophical work as a divine calling and refused to cease his activity even to save his life. The critical Socrates is regarded as a hero by contemporary secular philosophy, but the religious Socrates (who apparently heard voices and was confident that “nothing can harm a good man in life and death” because “the gods are not indifferent to his fortunes”) is not so widely hailed.
Spinoza, Baruch (1632-1677). One of the most important philosophers of the rationalist tradition, Spinoza was expelled from the Jewish synagogue in Amsterdam for his unorthodox views. Spinoza was a monist who held that fundamentally only one substance exists, known through its two attributes of mind and extension and correctly designated as God or Nature. When we understand the nature of God, we understand that all that happens does so with necessity. True happiness consists in the intellectual love of God when we see the world under the aspect of eternity and accept all that happens as ultimately good. Spinoza believed that philosophy should be done in a geometric method involving self-evident postulates and definitions from which theorems can be proved.
Stoicism. An influential philosophy in ancient Greece and in the Roman world that emphasized a person’s control over the emotions. Founded by Zeno of Citium (334-262 BC; not to be confused with Zeno the Eleatic, famous for his paradoxes), Stoicism evolved over time, with three periods usually distinguished: Early Stoicism, Middle Stoicism and Roman Stoicism. Most surviving Stoic writings come from the last period, with the slave Epictetus and the emperor Marcus Aurelius being two of the most famous Stoics. Stoicism was characterized by a conviction that the universe has a rational structure and that whatever happens does so with necessity. True virtue requires an acceptance of external events; the virtuous person lives in accordance with the reason that shapes the universe and gains contentment by an attitude of indifference to the external goods and evils that most people desire and fear.
Structuralism. An interdisciplinary movement with its origins in linguistics and French philosophy that emphasizes the way in which the meanings of symbols are determined by their relationships to other symbols in a system. Structuralists see language and other human activities (including religious rituals) as reflecting deep, universal structures often expressed in myth.
Subjectivism. Philosophy or life perspective that attempts to view what is normally thought to be objectively true or false as subjective. In ethics, emotivism, which views ethical judgments as expressions of subjective emotions, is an example of subjectivism. Subjectivism is in effect a type of individual relativism.
Taoism. An ancient philosophical and religious worldview developed in China. The term derives from the Chinese word tao, meaning “the way.” Taoists believe that there is an underlying metaphysical and ethical structure to the cosmos and that humans who understand this can order their lives rightly. However, this structure, or tao, is ineffable, and thus our knowledge of it is not propositional in character. The most famous Taoist philosophers were Chuang-tzu and Lao-tzu.
Theodicy. An answer to the problem of evil that attempts to “justify the ways of God to man” by explaining God’s reasons for allowing evil. Two of the more important theodicies are the “soul-making theodicy,” which argues that God allows evil so as to make it possible for humans to develop certain desirable virtues, and the “free will theodicy,” which argues that God had to allow for the possibility of evil if he wished to give humans (and angelic beings) free will. Theodicies are often distinguished from defenses, which argue that is it reasonable to believe that God has reasons for allowing evil even if we do not know what those reasons are.
Utilitarianism. The ethical theory, held by such thinkers as Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, asserting that moral rightness is determined by what leads to the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Tradition utilitarians identify the greatest good with happiness and define happiness in terms of pleasure and the absence of pain, while “ideal” utilitarians are willing to include other goods than pleasure in their calculation of benefits. The traditional view is held by many animal rights advocates, who argue that the pleasures and pain of animals have great moral weight (equal to humans, in some cases). Act utilitarians hold that what is morally right is determined by the consequences of particular acts, while rule utilitarians hold that morality is a matter of conforming to rules or principles and that the right set of principles consists of those that would, if followed, lead to the greatest good for the greatest number.
Whitehead, Alfred North (1861-1947). English logician, mathematician and philosopher, whose later metaphysical work provided the inspiration for process theology. Whitehead first achieved fame as the coauthor, with Bertrand Russell, or Principia Mathematica, one of the seminal works of modern symbolic logic. Whitehead’s later metaphysical work attempts to reject the notion of substance as philosophically basic by taking organically related events as basic to ontology. God functions in this system not as a personal agent but more as the ground of possibilities and alluring ideal that leads to their actualization.
Wicca. A religion that centers on witchcraft and the revival of pagan practices. Wiccans deny that their religion involves the worship of Satan and see themselves as fostering a religion that is close to nature and affirmative of such elements of paganism as the worship of “the goddess”—a practice that is linked by Wiccans to radical forms of feminist thought.
Wittgenstein, Ludwig (1889-1951). Austrian-born philosopher who had his greatest impact on Anglo-American philosophy. Early in his career Wittgenstein expounded a picture theory of meaning that regarded complex propositions as functions of “atomic propositions” that pictures “atomic facts.” According to this view, ethical and religious propositions belong to “the mystical,” which cannot be expressed in language. The later Wittgenstein developed a more flexible theory of language that emphasized how meaning is a function of use. Words are used in many different contexts as part of “language games,” and meaning must be situated with reference to that language game and the form of life in which the game has its home. Some of the later Wittgenstein’s thoughts on religion have been developed into Wittgensteinian fideism, which emphasizes the autonomy of the religious language game and denies the need for any justification of religious belief. In the thought of some of its proponents, however, this Wittgensteinian view is linked to religious antirealism, in which religious propositions do not state facts that can be objectively true or false.
Zen Buddhism. A form of Buddhism that originated in China and then spread to Japan. Zen Buddhism is a type of Mahayana Buddhism which holds out the possibility that individuals can attain the status of Buddhahood through following various esoteric teachings and exercises. The teachings of Zen do not lend themselves to straightforward explanation, as its adherents hold that the path to enlightenment cannot be discursively described.
Zoroastrianism. A religion from ancient Persian (Iran) that dominated that region prior to the coming of Islam but is today a small minority faith. Named for the prophet Zoroaster (or Zarathustra), whose dates are unknown, Zoroastrianism became the official religion of Persia from the third century BC until the seventh century AD. It is characterized by a dualism in which Ahura Mazda, the god of light and goodness, struggles to overcome a powerful evil spirit, although contemporary Zoroastrians claim that they are monotheists and do not necessarily see the physical world as bad, as in the ontological dualism of Manichaeism.
Pocket Dictionary of Apologetics & Philosophy of Religion, C. Stephen Evans
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