Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T09:38:26.506Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Optimism without theism? Nagasawa on atheism, evolution, and evil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 August 2021

Guy Kahane Open the ORCID record for Guy Kahane [Opens in a new window]
Guy Kahane*
Affiliation:
Pembroke College, St. Aldates, OX1 1DW, Oxford, UK
*
Corresponding author: Guy Kahane, email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Nagasawa has argued that the suffering associated with evolution presents a greater challenge to atheism than to theism because that evil is incompatible with ‘existential optimism’ about the world – with seeing the world as an overall good place, and being thankful that we exist. I argue that even if atheism was incompatible with existential optimism in this way, this presents no threat to atheism. Moreover, it is unclear how the suffering associated with evolution could on its own undermine existential optimism. Links between Nagasawa's argument and the current debate about the axiology of (a)theism are also explored.

Keywords

problem of evilevolutionsufferingatheismtheismoptimismpessimismaxiology of theismgratitude
Type
Original Article
Information
Religious Studies , Volume 58 , Issue 4 , December 2022 , pp. 701 - 714
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Benatar, D (2006) Better Never to Have Been. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Benatar, D (2015) The misanthropic argument for anti-natalism. In Hannan, S, Brennan, S and Vernon, R (eds), Permissible Progeny? The Morality of Procreation and Parenting. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 34–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benatar, D (2017) The Human Predicament. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dawkins, R (2010) The greatest show on earth. Article delivered at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, 13 March. Available at https://www.alumni.auckland.ac.nz/en/photo-galleries-and-video/public-lectures/richarddawkinsthegreatestshowonearthlive/richarddawkinsthegreatestshowonearthlive-1.html.Google Scholar
Horta, O (2015) The problem of evil in nature: evolutionary bases of the prevalence of disvalue. Relations. Beyond Anthropocentrism 3, 17–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hurka, T (2000) Virtue, Vice, and Value. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kahane, G (2011) Should we want god to exist? Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 82, 674–696.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kahane, G (2014) Our cosmic insignificance. Noûs 48, 745–772.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kahane, G (2019) History and persons. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 99, 162–187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kahane, G (2021a) Is the universe indifferent? Should we care? Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. Available at https://doi.org/10.1111/phpr.12796.Google Scholar
Kahane, G (2021b) The significance of the past. The Journal of the American Philosophical Association.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kraay, K (ed.) (2018). Does God Matter? Essays on the Axiological Consequences of Theism. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kraay, K and Dragos, C (2013) On preferring god's non-existence. Canadian Journal of Philosophy 43, 57–178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lougheed, K (2020) The Axiological Status of Theism and Other World Views. London: Palgrave.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miele, F (1995) Darwin's dangerous disciple: an interview with Richard Dawkins. Scepsis 3, 4. Available at https://scepsis.net/eng/articles/id_3.php/.Google Scholar
Nagasawa, Y (2018) The problem of evil for atheists. In Trakakis, NN (ed.), The Problem of Evil: Eight Views in Dialogue. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 151–163.Google Scholar
Ng, Y-K (1995) Towards welfare biology: evolutionary economics of animal consciousness and suffering. Biology and Philosophy 10(3), 255–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nozick, R (1989) The Examined Life. New York: Simon and Schuster.Google Scholar
Parfit, D (2011) On What Matters, vol. II. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Prescott, P (2021) The secular problem of evil: an essay in analytic existentialism. Religious Studies 57, 101–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schopenhauer, A (1969) The World as Will and Representation, vol. II. NY: Courier Dover.Google Scholar
Schopenhauer, A (1976) Essays and Aphorisms. London: Penguin Classics.Google Scholar
Thompson, J (2000) The apology paradox. The Philosophical Quarterly 50, 470–475.Google Scholar
Tilley, TW (2018) Response to nagasawa. In Trakakis, NN (ed.), The Problem of Evil: Eight Views in Dialogue. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 165–168.Google Scholar
Tomasik, B (2015) The importance of wild-animal suffering. Relations. Beyond Anthropocentrism 3, 133–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wallace, RJ (2013) The View from Here: On Affirmation, Attachment, and the Limits of Regret. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar