Formal Theodicy: Religious Determinism and the Logical Problem of Evil

• Authors: Borges da Silva Gesiel , Bertato Fabio Maia
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Edward Nieznański developed two logical systems to deal with the problem of evil and to refute religious determinism. However, when formalized in first-order modal logic, two axioms of each system contradict one another, revealing that there is an underlying minimal set of axioms enough to settle the questions. In this article, we develop this minimal system, called N3, which is based on Nieznański’s contribution. The purpose of N3 is to solve the logical problem of evil through the defeat of a version of religious determinism. On the one hand, these questions are also addressed by Nieznański’s systems, but, on the other hand, they are obtained in N3 with fewer assumptions. Our approach can be considered a case of logic of religion, that is, of logic applied to religious discourse, as proposed by Józef Maria Bocheński; in this particular case, it is a discourse in theodicy, which is situated in the context of the philosophy of religion.

Keywords

EN

logical problem of evil; theodicy; first-order modal logic; logic of religion; Edward Nieznański

• Publisher: University of Warsaw, Institute of Philosophy
• Journal: Edukacja Filozoficzna
• Year: 2020
• Issue: 70
• Pages: 93-119

Contributors

author

Borges da Silva Gesiel

author

Bertato Fabio Maia

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