An Analysis of Allameh Jafari's View on the Problem of Evil ‎Compared to Irenaean Theodicy and General Refutation

Document Type : The Quarterly Jornal

Authors

1 ‎ Assistant Professor, Department of Islamic Philosophy and Theology, Azarbaijan Shahid ‎Madani University, Tabriz, Iran (Corresponding Author)‎‏.‏

2 M. A. Islamic Theology, Shahid Madani University of Azerbaijan, Tabriz, Iran.‎

Abstract

The problem of evil is a central challenge in theology and a core topic in the philosophy of religion. It's typically presented through two formulations: the "logical argument" and the "evidential argument," both focusing on the apparent inconsistency of evil with the existence of an all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-benevolent God. John Hick categorizes responses to the problem of evil—based on their acceptance or rejection of evils incompatible with God's existence—into "general defeaters," "defenses," and "theodicies." Allameh Jafari found none of the existing responses to the problem of evil within the Islamic philosophical and theological traditions to be sufficient. He proposed new, overarching principles. Since some of his statements might suggest an inconsistency to the reader, they warrant collection, articulation, and comparison with contemporary answers to the problem of evil. A key finding of this research is that Allameh Jafari's views require a two-stage explanation regarding the problem of evil. In the first stage, he considers trials and hardships as prerequisites for perfection or for reaching the "Malakuti Self" (Self of the Divine Realm). This aligns with a type of Irenaean theodicy and is comparable to Hick's soul-making theodicy. In the second stage, Allameh Jafari believes that by transcending the "natural self" and attaining the Malakuti Self, humans achieve a "higher understanding" where they perceive no evil whatsoever. Consequently, there's no need to justify evils. This second stage can be understood as a "general refutation" for the existence of evils.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

Jafari, Mohammad Taqi. (1372 SH). Analysis of Khayyam's Personality. Tehran: Kayhan Publications.[In Persian]
Jafari, Mohammad Taqi. (1376 SH). Translation and Interpretation of Nahj al-Balaghah (Vols. 1, 2, 4, 7, 9 & 27, 7th ed.). Tehran: Daftar-e Nashr-e Farhang-e Eslami. [In Persian]
Jafari, Mohammad Taqi. (1375 SH). Philosophy of Religion (1st ed.). Tehran: Mo'asseseh-ye Farhangi-ye Andisheh. [In Persian]
Jafari, Mohammad Taghi. (1382 SH). The Quran as a Symbol of Rational Life. Tehran: Allameh Publications Institute, Markaz. [In Persian]
Jafari, Mohammad Taqi. (1387 SH). Rational Life (1st ed.). Tehran: Mo'asseseh-ye Tadvin va Nashr-e Asar-e Allameh Jafari. [In Persian]
Jafari, Mohammad Taqi. (1394 SH). Determinism and Free Will (7th ed.). Tehran: Mo'asseseh-ye Tadvin va Nashr-e Asar-e Allameh Jafari. [In Persian]
Jafari, Mohammad Taqi. (1363 SH). Interpretation, Critique, and Analysis of Masnavi of Jalal al-Din Mohammad Balkhi (Vol. 3, 9th ed.). Tehran: Nashr-e Farhang-e Eslami. [In Persian]
Khalili, Akram. (1395 SH). God of Love and the Problem of Evil: John Hick's Irenaean Soul-Making Theodicy. Qom: Mo'asseseh-ye Farhangi-ye Taha. [In Persian]
Dinpanah, Hassan. (1397 SH). Comprehensive Attention to Rational Life. Do Faslnameh-ye Ma'refat-e Kalmi (Bi-annual Journal of Kalam Knowledge), 9(21), pp. 27-44. [In Persian]
Nasri, Abdollah. (1389 SH). Allameh Jafari Considers the Structure of Individuals' Personality Effective in the Discussion of Evils. Retrieved on July 14, 1389 SH, from http://ehrnews.com/xcw7d. [In Persian]
Hick, John. (1376 SH). Philosophy of Religion (Translator: Behzad Saleki). Tehran: Entesharat-e Beynolmelali-ye Al-Mahdi. [In Persian]
Chase Greene, W. (1944). Moira: Fate, Good and Evil in Greek Thought. New York: Harper Torchbooks.
Fitzpatrick, F. J. (1981). The Onus of Proof in Arguments about the Problem of Evil. Religious Studies, 17, pp. 19-38. DOI: 10.1017/S0034412500012762
Forrest, Peter. (1981). The Problem of Evil: Two Neglected Defenses. Sophia, 20, pp. 49-54. DOI: 10.1007/BF02782747
Hick, John. (1966). Evil and the God of Love. New York: Harper & Row.
Hickson, Michael W. (2014). A Brief History of Problems of Evil. In J. P. McBrayer & D. Howard-Snyder (Eds.), The Blackwell Companion to The Problem of Evil (pp. 3-18). Wiley.
Hume, D. (1993). Dialogues concerning Natural Religion and Natural History of Religion (J.C.A. Gaskin, Ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lewis, Delmas. (1983). The Problem with the Problem of Evil. Sophia, 22, pp. 26-35. DOI: 10.1007/BF02789819
McCloskey, H. J. (1960). God and Evil. The Philosophical Quarterly, 10(39), pp. 97-114. DOI: 10.2307/2960059
Plato. (1997). Plato: Complete Works (J. M. Cooper, Ed.). Indianapolis, IN & Cambridge, MA: Hackett Publishing Company.
Rowe, William L. (1991). Ruminations about Evil. Philosophical Perspectives, 5, pp. 69-88. DOI: 10.2307/2214091
Schlesinger, George. (1964). The Problem of Evil and the Problem of Suffering. American Philosophical Quarterly, 1, pp. 244-247.
Schlesinger, George. (1977). Religion and Scientific Method. Boston: D. Reidel.
Tooley, Michael. (1991). The argument from evil. Philosophical Perspectives, 5, pp. 89-134. DOI: 10.2307/2214092
Tooley, Michael. (2021). The Problem of Evil. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. URL = https:// B2n.ir/dw5253.
Wykstra, Stephen J. (1984). The Humean Obstacle to Evidential Arguments from Suffering: On Avoiding the Evils of ‘Appearance’. International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 16, pp. 73-93. DOI: 10.1007/BF00136567

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics