Universität Wien

180201 SE Theodicy and the Problem of Suffering (2023S)

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 18 - Philosophie
Continuous assessment of course work
MIXED
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 25 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

11.03. 10:00-11:30. Online. (Introduction round and guidelines)

18.03. 10:00-14:00. Presence, Saturday

28.04. 16:00-18:00. Presence, Friday
29.04. 10:00-14:00. Presence, Saturday

12.05. 16:00-18:00. Online, Friday
13.05. 10:00-13:00. Online, Saturday

02.06. 16:00-18:00. Presence, Friday
03.06. 10:00-13:00. Presence, Saturday

Saturday 11.03. 10:00 - 11:30 Digital
Saturday 18.03. 10:00 - 14:00 Hörsaal. 2H NIG 2.Stock
Friday 28.04. 16:00 - 18:00 Hörsaal 2G, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/2.Stock, 1010 Wien
Saturday 29.04. 10:00 - 14:00 Hörsaal 2G, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/2.Stock, 1010 Wien
Friday 12.05. 16:00 - 18:00 Digital
Saturday 13.05. 10:00 - 13:00 Digital
Friday 02.06. 16:00 - 18:00 Hörsaal 2G, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/2.Stock, 1010 Wien
Saturday 03.06. 10:00 - 13:00 Hörsaal. 2H NIG 2.Stock

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

The main language for this seminar is English. However, some discussions, presentations, and readings will be able to be held in German.

Assessment and permitted materials

course requirements for each student
1. Active participation in the course.
2. Reading all material assigned for the lessons.
3. Completion of all work by listed deadlines.
4. One Presentation

Evaluation
1. One presentation - 40%
2. General participation in discussions, and a one paragraph summary of each assigned reading, submitted on the assigned due date, on which that reading is assigned - 60%

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

This is a seminar course and the student is expected to participate in course discussions.
Presentations
Each student will offer a presentation on an assigned text/essay for a course (This will cover the essay/reading and provide questions for the reading, presenting different ideas, etc.)
Short summaries of the reading
For each assigned reading, students will be expected to provide a 1 paragraph summary of the reading, and 2 discussion questions. Failure to turn these in on time will result in a grade point reduction.

Examination topics


“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?”
― Epicurus

After two world wars and the unthinkable Holocaust, Emmanuel Levinas concluded not only that we cannot explain why suffering exists, but also that "justifying the pain of one's neighbor is certainly the cause of all immorality". In an increasingly globalizing world, we can no longer regard violence, evil, and suffering as exceptions to the norm, but as constitutive of norms. The universality of suffering (that we all either are suffering, have suffered, or will, in the future, suffer) makes it relevant for all persons. And this universality is precisely what has made the problem of evil so potent for anyone arguing against theistic belief. Yet the ways we respond to this universality of suffering, is far from clear. Responses to suffering are an indicator of the metaphysics we choose to hold, which in many ways gets ex-carnated into our ethical and political positions. Experiences of suffering, and the way others respond to our suffering. are so powerful that they serve to constitute our lives, dictate our fears, and influence our social and political behaviors.
Without necessarily justifying suffering (our own or others), it remains necessary to respond to it, describe it, name it, and deter any persons who would like to rectify it upon other persons. This is one reason why the question of “theodicy” has become even more pertinent in the last 100 years. Suffering is an issue that directly involves core aspects of the philosophy of religion, which attempts to “translate” the theories and abstraction of belief in rational and understandable terms. Not only is it that the various ways of suffering are responded to with various forms of religiosity; but also, that those various ways of suffering lead many to argue that religiosity may in fact increase suffering in our world. The most comprehensive philosophical treatments of suffering in "theodicy"( to "defend God”, a term first coined by G.W. Leibniz in 1710) have arisen as responses to the many well-reasoned arguments against God in the so-called “problem of evil.” Suffering complicates the possibility of believing in the existence of (at least a monotheistic) God. Yet by no means have these problems of suffering and evil been successful at completely making theistic belief irrational.

By the end of the course, it is expected that students will have achieved the ability to reflect critically on these aspects of the course.

Reading list

Modules
***Not all of the following modules will be selected. This is a sample, and not yet a fixed schedule***
Module 1: Opening discussion on the relevance between violence, suffering, God, and theodicy

Module 2: What is a God, and could the presence of evil prove there is not one?
Reading: Jan Garrett, “Philosophical Views of God”

Module 3: "Theodicy, that is, trial of the goodness of God, liberty of man, and the origin of evil."
Reading: GW. Leibniz “Summary of the Controversy, reduced to Formal Arguments” in Theodicy

Module 4: Suffering as a theological problem (specifically for monotheism)
Reading: Selections from David Hume, "An Inquiry into Human Understanding"

Module 5: Is religion inherently violent and fanatical?
Reading: Draper, Paul (1989). “Pain and Pleasure: An Evidential Problem for Theists,” Noûs, 23: 331–350; reprinted in Howard-Snyder (ed.), The Evidential Argument from Evil, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996, pp. 12–29.

Module 6: How to Deal with the Suffering of Others: Ethics of Utilitarianism and Virtue Ethics
Reading: John Stewart Mill, "Utilitarianism"

Module 7: Why does ethics matter for Theodicy?
Reading: Selections from Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics

Module 8: How not to deal with the suffering of others.
Reading: Selections from E. Levinas, Useless Suffering.

Module 9: Explaining Suffering in Auschwitz
Reading: Primo Levi, 2015. If This Is a Man. In The Complete Works of Primo Levi. Edited by Ann Goldstein. Translated by Stuart Woolf. New York: Liveright Publishing Co., vol. 1.

Module 10: Analyzing The problem of evil as the greatest challenge to the existence of God
Reading: William Rowe "Friendly Atheism, Skeptical Theism, and the Problem of Evil"

Module 11: Free Will Theodicy: Would the Elimination of Evil eliminate Freedom as well?
Reading: Augustine, "On grace and free will".

Module 12: The “Soul making Theodicy”: Are we "empty slates" who have to suffer in order to become morally "fit"?
Reading: Selections from John Hick's "Evil and the God of Love." and Linda Zagzebski, "The Dilemna of Freedom and Foreknowledge" 1991 Oxford. (in English)

Module 13: "Open Theism": Could God not be all powerful after all?
Reading: William Hasker "The Open Theism View", The Problem of Evil: Five Views. Eds. Dew and Meister.

Module 14: Kenosis and 20th century Process Theology
Reading Thomas J. Oord. “An Essential Kenosis View” in The Problem of Evil: Five Views. Eds. Dew and Meister.

Module 15: Molinism as a Response to Suffering
Reading: William Lane Craig, “A Molinist View” in The Problem of Evil: Five Views. Eds. Dew and Meister.

Module 16: Can Belief today be justified?
Reading: A. Plantinga "God Freedom and Evil" 1974.

Module 17: Skeptical Theism as middle ground between Atheism and Theism?
Reading: Steven Wyskra, “A Skeptical Theist View” in The Problem of Evil: Five Views. Eds. Dew and Meister.

Module 18: The Politics of Suffering
Reading: selections from - - Judith Butler, Life at Risk. Political essays. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 2005; Achilles Mbembe, Necropolitics; Wendy Brown, "Regulating Aversion: Tolerance in the age of Identity and Empire." (Princeton University Press, 2006)

Module 19: What does Theodicy have to do with religions other than the predominant Religions of the West?
Reading: Peter Hünermann & Adel Theodor Khoury (ed.): "Why suffer? The answer of the world religions." 1987

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Th 11.05.2023 11:27