Order and Progress in Paradise Lost

PMLA ◽  
1920 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 218-225
Author(s):  
William Haller
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Paradise Lost ◽  
Moral Character ◽  
Problem Of Evil ◽  
The Other ◽  
Divine Nature ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Problem Of Evil ◽  
Spiritual Satisfaction ◽  
Character Of God

We do not grow less certain, as time goes on, that Milton's idea of the divine nature fails to satisfy some of our deepest religious feelings. We require of theology that it be logical; we require also that it be humane. It may become mystical; but when reason fails, theology must not become illogical; and when reason demands, it must not become inhumane. Milton's God is either inconsistent or cruel or both, but he is not a mystery. Hence Professor Erskine, desiring to find the poet humane, can well argue that the idea of death in Paradise Lost undergoes a distinct change, but hence on the other hand Professor Stoll, desiring to find him consistent, can just as well argue, falling back upon the convenient notion of predestination, that there is no change where the change was intended from the beginning. Yet however we argue, Milton fails as a theologian by attempting to reduce the whole mystery of human nature to a formula and arriving at a dilemma. Pain is in itself an evil which it is the ineffable hope of mankind to destroy. The experience of pain may be used for its elimination, and the end is good, but pain is none the less evil. Man's supreme experience is not in causing but in destroying it. What spiritual satisfaction we could find without this experience is a mystery, but we arrive only at confusion when we say that evil and the cause of it, without ceasing to be evil, are good because without them we should be without the experience. Man at his best seeks to accomplish bis ends with as little pain as possible; God should be nothing short of infinitely more humane than man. Milton's omnipotent beneficence can not or will not do for man what man would do for himself if he were Milton's God. The trouble is, of course, with the whole Calvinistic system of thought. The asserter of eternal providence proves more than we wish to believe. He sinks the ship to dampen the sails. He starts up a snake in order to gain credit for killing it. He blackens the moral character of God in order to dispose of the problem of evil.

scholarly journals "Sufficient to Have Stood, Though Free to Fall": Free Will in John Milton's Paradise Lost

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Martineau
Keyword(s):  
Free Will ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
John Milton ◽  
Paradise Lost ◽  
Problem Of Evil ◽  
Garden Of Eden ◽  
Adam And Eve ◽  
The Problem Of Evil ◽  
Book Of Genesis ◽  
The Way

In Book I of Paradise Lost, John Milton (1608-1674) asserts his intent to “justifie the wayes of God to men” (Paradise Lost1 I 26), paving the way for a revolutionary discussion of human nature, divinity, and the problem of evil, all couched in an epic retelling of Satan’s fall from grace, his temptation of Adam and Eve, and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden, as recounted in the Book of Genesis. In his treatment of the biblical account, Milton necessarily broaches a variety of subjects which were both relevant during his time and remain relevant in ours. Among these topics, and certainly one of the most compelling, is the matter of human free will.

Omnipotence

Philosophy ◽  
1973 ◽  
Vol 48 (183) ◽  
pp. 7-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. T. Geach
Keyword(s):  
English Word ◽  
Problem Of Evil ◽  
The Other ◽  
Familiar Word ◽  
Latin Word ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Problem Of Evil ◽  
The Church ◽  
At Home

It is fortunate for my purposes that English has the two words ‘almighty’ and ‘omnipotent’, and that apart from any stipulation by me the words have rather different associations and suggestions. ‘Almighty’ is the familiar word that comes in the creeds of the Church; ‘omnipotent’ is at home rather in formal theological discussions and controversies, e.g. about miracles and about the problem of evil. ‘Almighty’ derives by way of Latin ‘omnipotens’ from the Greek word ‘pantokratōr’; and both this Greek word, like the more classical ‘pankratēs’, and ‘almighty’ itself suggest God's having power over all things. On the other hand the English word ‘omnipotent’ would ordinarily be taken to imply ability to do everything; the Latin word ‘omnipotens’ also predominantly has this meaning in Scholastic writers, even though in origin it is a Latinization of ‘pantocratōr’. So there already is a tendency to distinguish the two words; and in this paper I shall make the distinction a strict one. I shall use the word ‘almighty’ to express God's power over all things, and I shall take ‘omnipotence’ to mean ability to do everything.

Free Will and the Problem of Evil

1987 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 289-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Mason Myers
Keyword(s):  
Free Will ◽  
Actual World ◽  
Possible Worlds ◽  
Problem Of Evil ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human Reason ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The World ◽  
The Problem Of Evil ◽  
Traditional Theist

Hume after arguing for the compatibility of liberty and necessity, a view now known as soft determinism or compatibilism, noted that it is not ‘possible to explain distinctly, how the Deity can be the mediate cause of the actions of sin and moral turpitude’. It seems that Hume is correct if the explanation must show specifically why an omnipotent and omnibenevolent deity must permit certain actions that to human reason seem to be unnecessary evils. On the other hand if such specifity is not required, the soft determinist who also happens to be a theist can argue that it is possible that the actual world is the best of all possible worlds even though the reason for any specific apparent evil cannot be known. If seemingly evil choices are free in the soft determinist's sense but determined by an omnipotent and omniscient deity, then either that deity is not omnibenevolent or that deity has determined the world to have the maximum possible goodness through including seemingly evil choices in the scheme of things. Consequently if, as the traditional theist believes, the creator is omnibenevolent as well as omnipotent and omniscient, the occurrence of seemingly evil choices are necessary for maximizing the goodness of the whole.

scholarly journals The Concept of the Person as “Subject” and “Place” of Morality According to Paul Ricoeur

2020 ◽  
pp. 427-451
Author(s):  
Jarosław Sobkowiak
Keyword(s):  
Paul Ricoeur ◽  
Internal Variability ◽  
Problem Of Evil ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human Subjectivity ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Paul Ricœur ◽  
The Problem Of Evil ◽  
The One

e concept of the subjectivity of a person presented in this article has shownthat man as a subject appears in constant references and relations in which hisexistence is embedded. On the one hand, it escapes the determinism of nature,on the other hand, it reveals a certain crack between its nature and action. isleads to the conclusion that even if a person is characterised by individuality, itis not a separate existence. It seems justified to return to the question of whatmakes a person, in spite of both external and internal variability; they remain thesame or otherwise what builds and what destroys the subjectivity of the person?e question thus posed reveals the first threat to human subjectivity whichis the fact of the existence of evil. For it is not only something external to manbut also something that makes man both the “place” of the appearance of evil and responsible for evilB8. While staying in Ricoeur’s philosophy characterisedby a dialectical movement one can already see in the language discussing evila threat to certain “deposits of hope” present in his thoughtB<. For the religiouslanguage to which Ricoeur ultimately reduces the problem of evil is the languageof hope and eschatology. Freedom also takes on a new meaning in this context.It is no longer just something that has been enslaved but above all somethingthat is a “desire for the possible.” A possible freedom is the Resurrection. In thisperspective, even evil and suffering can find their ultimate meaning, and thesubjective character of morality does not threaten to fall into subjectivism.Moreover, it is in the name of such subjectivism that morality demands for thesubject this “otherness,” the hope that comes from the Resurrection.

Evilism and the a priori

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
JOE MILBURN
Keyword(s):  
A Priori ◽  
Problem Of Evil ◽  
The Other ◽  
A Posteriori ◽  
Traditional Theism ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Problem Of Evil ◽  
First Cause

Abstract In this article, I respond to Stephen Law's evil god challenge (EGC) to traditional theism. I argue that while there are credible a priori grounds for believing that the first cause is all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-good, there are no credible a priori grounds for believing that the first cause is all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-evil. Because of this, theists have a reason for explaining away the a posteriori evidence against theism. The hypothetical evilist, on the other hand, does not. Thus, while the problem of the good makes it absurd to believe in evilism, the problem of evil does not make it absurd to believe in theism.

scholarly journals God Below: A Faith Born in Hell—Life and Fate and the Otherwise Than Being

Humanities ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 84
Author(s):  
Karl Shankar SenGupta
Keyword(s):  
Emmanuel Levinas ◽  
Problem Of Evil ◽  
The Other ◽  
French Army ◽  
Holy Fool ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
The Problem Of Evil ◽  
Utopian Thought ◽  
Primary Focus

This essay examines the idea of kenosis and holy folly in the years before, during, and after the Holocaust. The primary focus will be Vasily Grossman’s Life and Fate, though it also will touch upon Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Demons and the ethics of the Lithuanian-Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas, speaking to their intersecting ideas. Dostoevsky, true enough, predates the Shoah, whereas Grossman was a Soviet Jew who served as a journalist (most famously at the Battle of Stalingrad), and Levinas was a soldier in the French army, captured by the Nazis and placed in a POW camp. Each of these writers wrestles with the problem of evil in various ways, Dostoevsky and Levinas as theists—one Christian, the other Jewish—and Grossman as an atheist; yet, despite their differences, there are ever deeper resonances in that all are drawn to the idea of kenosis and the holy fool, and each writer employs variations of this idea in their respective answers to the problem of evil. Each argues, more or less, that evil arises in totalizing utopian thought which reifies individual humans to abstractions—to The Human, and goodness to The Good. Each looks to kenosis as the “antidote” to this utopian reification.

scholarly journals Document: An Axiological Aspect

2018 ◽  
pp. 761-769
Author(s):  
Olga A. Ginatulina ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Scientific Work ◽  
Negative Evaluation ◽  
Document Management ◽  
The Other ◽  
Public Practice ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The One

The article analyzes the phenomenon of document as assessed in the study of value. To begin with, it poses a problem of contradictory axiological status of document in modern society. On the one hand, document is objectively important, as it completes certain practical tasks, and yet, on the other hand, documents and document management are receive a negative assessment in public consciousness. In order to understand this situation, the article analyzes the concept of ‘value’ and concludes that certain objects of the material world receive this status, if they are included in public practice and promote progress of society or human development. Although this abstract step towards a better understanding of values does not provide a comprehensive answer to the question of axiological nature of document, it however indicates a trend in development of thought towards analysis of the development of human nature. The document is an artifact that objectifies and reifies a certain side of human nature. Human nature is a heterogeneous phenomenon and exists on two levels. The first abstract level is represented by the human race and embodies the full range of universal features of humanity. The second level is the specific embodiment of generic universal human nature in specific historical type of individuals. Between these two levels there is a contradiction. On the one hand, man by nature tends toward universality, on the other hand, realization of his nature is limited by the frameworks of historical era and contributes to the development of only one side of the race. Accordingly, document has value only within a certain historical stage and conflicts with the trend of universal development of human nature, and thus receives a negative evaluation. However, emergence of a new type of work (general scientific work) will help to overcome this alienation between generic and limited individual human being, and therefore will make a great impact on the nature of document, making it more ‘human,’ thus increasing its value in the eyes of society.

Towards a Hermeneutics of Religion(s).

2008 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-215
Author(s):  
Fedor Stanjevskiy
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Religion ◽  
Paul Ricoeur ◽  
Problem Of Evil ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Paul Ricœur ◽  
The Problem Of Evil

The objective of this article is to present and analyze some theses advanced in “Lectures 3” by Paul Ricoeur. The book is devoted to the boundaries of philosophy, to non-philosophical sources of philosophy and finally to the other par excellence of philosophy—to religion. The book is composed of a series of essays divided thematically into three parts. The first part deals with Kant's and Hegel's philosophy of religion. Then in the course of the book the author gradually moves away from the philosophical logos (the second part deals with prophets, the problem of evil, the tragic etc) to arrive at a point where recourse to the exegesis of the Bible becomes for him indispensable.

Password Recovery Research and its Future Direction

2012 ◽  
pp. 192-206
Author(s):  
Vrizlynn L. L. Thing ◽  
Hwei-Ming Ying
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Digital Forensics ◽  
The Other ◽  
Sorting Algorithm ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Rainbow Table ◽  
Password Protection ◽  
Recovery Performance ◽  
Time Memory Tradeoff ◽  
Future Direction

As users become increasingly aware of the need to adopt strong password, it brings challenges to digital forensics investigators due to the password protection of potential evidentiary data. On the other hand, due to human nature and their tendency to select memorable passwords, which compromises security for convenience, users may select strong passwords by considering a permutation of dictionary words. In this chapter, the authors discuss the existing password recovery methods and identify promising password recovery approaches. They also present their previous work on the design of a time-memory tradeoff pre-computed table coupled with a new sorting algorithm, and its two new storage mechanisms. The results on the evaluation of its password recovery performance are also presented. In this chapter, the authors propose the design of a new password recovery table by integrating the construction of common passwords within the enhanced rainbow table to incorporate the two promising password recovery approaches. They then present the theoretical proof of the feasibility of this technique.

Hierarchy and Heredity

Born to Write ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 3-9
Author(s):  
Neil Kenny
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Social Status ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Social Hierarchy ◽  
The Other ◽  
Early Modern France ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Modern France

Families were fundamental to social hierarchy in early modern France. Birth was widely accepted to indicate one’s divinely ordained social status, even if that view was not universal—in practice, some freedom was allowed for individuals to improve their status (especially among certain social groups) or indeed to worsen it. Certainly, the relation of birth to social status varied. It had a changing history even in respect of the nobility, which could be entered by routes other than birth. But birth was primordial at all levels of society, and for the nobility it became even more so in France in the second half of the sixteenth century and in the seventeenth. It was widely believed that the members of a given noble family shared their own, generally superior, instantiation of human nature. On the other hand, heredity was widely believed to predispose commoners too in certain directions.

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