Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-sjtt6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-14T03:21:54.983Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Healthy functioning as the key to fairness in a divinely determined world

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2018

DAVID B. HERSHENOV
DAVID B. HERSHENOV*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Romanell Center for Clinical Ethics and the Philosophy of Medicine, 135 Park Hall, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY14260, USA
*
e-mail: Dh25@buffalo.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Defending a traditional conception of Hell against the charge of unfairness is difficult for any theorist. It would seem to be even more difficult for the Christian semi-compatibilist who believes we can be responsible when determined. If God determined the wrongdoer's choices, then it seems unfair that he is punished for his actions that were manipulated rather than autonomous. I'll argue that healthy mental functioning can explain how some causally determined actions are manipulative while others are under our control. I'll also argue that God can punish even if He lacks the standing to blame.

Type
Original Article
Information
Religious Studies , Volume 56 , Issue 2 , June 2020 , pp. 194 - 208
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018

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

Adams, Marilyn McCord (1975) ‘Hell and the God of Justice’, Religious Studies, 11, 433–447.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baker, Lynne (2005) ‘When do persons begin and end’, Distinguished Faculty Lecture, <http://people.umass.edu/lrb/files/bak05whebM.pdf>..>Google Scholar
Boonin, David (2008) The Problem of Punishment (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boorse, Christopher (1977) ‘Health as a theoretical concept’, Philosophy of Science, 44, 542–573.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boorse, Christopher (1997) ‘A rebuttal on health’, in Humber, J. & Almeder, R. (eds) What is Disease? (New York: Humana Press), 1–134.Google Scholar
Boorse, Christopher (2014) ‘A second rebuttal on health’, Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 39, 683–724.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Buckareff, Andrei & Plug, Allen (2005) ‘Escaping hell: divine motivation and the problem of hell’, Religious Studies, 41, 39–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buss, Sarah (2012a) ‘Autonomous action: self-determination in the passive mode’, Ethics, 122, 647–691.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buss, Sarah (2012b) Ethics at Pea Soup Blog, <http://peasoup.typepad.com/peasoup/2012/10/ethics-at-pea-soup-sarah-busss-autonomous-action-self-determination-in-the-passive-mode-with-comment.html#more>..>Google Scholar
Fischer, John Martin (2006) My Way: Essays on Moral Responsibility (Oxford: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Hampton, Jean (1993) ‘Selflessness and the loss of self’, Social Philosophy and Policy, 10, 135–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hershenov, David (2005) ‘Do dead bodies pose a problem for the biological account of identity?’ Mind, 114, 31–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hershenov, David (2010) ‘Restitution and punishment’, in Ryberg, J. & Corlett, A (eds) Punishment and Ethics: New Perspectives (New York: Palgrave Macmillan Press), 33–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Irenaeus. Against Heresies: The Ante-Nicean Fathers. Vol. 4.Google Scholar
Kershnar, Stephen (2005) ‘The injustice of hell’, International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 58, 103–123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kershnar, Stephen (2010) ‘Hell and punishment’, in Buenting, J. (ed.) The Problem of Hell: A Philosophical Anthology (Burlington VT: Ashgate), 115–132.Google Scholar
Kvanvig, Jonathan (1993) The Problem of Hell (Oxford: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Lewis., C. S. (2001) The Problem of Pain (New York: Harper Collins).Google Scholar
Lewis, David (2007) ‘Divine evil’, in Anthony, L. (ed.) Philosophers without God: Meditations on Atheism and the Secular Life (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 231–242.Google Scholar
Lizza, John (2012) ‘Brain death’, in Gifford, F. (ed.) Handbook of the Philosophy of Science (North Holland: Elsevier), 453–488.Google Scholar
McMahan, Jeff (2002) The Ethics of Killing: Problems at the Margins of Life (Oxford: Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olson, Eric (1998) ‘there is no problem of the Self’, Journal of Consciousness Studies, 5, 645–657.Google Scholar
Olson, Eric (2013) ‘The Person and the Corpse’, in I. B. Bradley, et al. (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Death (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 80–96.Google Scholar
Olson, Eric (2015) ‘Life after death and the devastation of the grave’, in Martin, M. & Augustine, K. (eds) The Myth of an Afterlife (Lanham MD: Rowman & Littlefield), 409–423.Google Scholar
Pereboom, Derek (2001) Living Without Free Will (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seymour, Charles (1997) ‘On choosing hell’, Religious Studies, 33, 249–266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seymour, Charles (1998) ‘Hell, justice, and freedom’, International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 43, 69–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sider, Ted (2002) ‘Hell and vagueness’, Faith and Philosophy, 19, 58–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Todd, Patrick (2012) ‘Manipulation and moral standing: an argument for incompatibilism’, Philosophers’ Imprint, 12, 1–18.Google Scholar
van Inwagen, Peter (1995) God, Knowledge and Mystery: Essays in Philosophical Theology. (Ithaca NY: Cornell University Press).Google Scholar
Veatch, Robert (2005) ‘The death of whole-brain death: the plague of the disaggregators, somaticists, and mentalists’, Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 30, 353–378.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wakefield, Jerome (1992) ‘Disorder as harmful dysfunction: on the boundary between biological facts and social values’, American Psychologist, 47, 373–388.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wakefield, Jerome (2005) ‘Biological function and dysfunction’, in D. Buss (ed.) Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology (New York: Oxford University Press), 878–902.Google Scholar
Walls, Jerry (2011) Purgatory: The Logic of Total Transformation (Oxford: Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar