Thanks for this video. Does occasionalism imply theological determinism? If so, then there is no free will and no possibility of freely 'choosing' between good and evil. God determines all of our decisions and who is ultimately 'saved' is divinely preordained, a la Calvinism. I also don't see how God is not then responsible for the horrendous suffering of his creatures.
Natural evil is the heaviest assault on Abrahamic Theism. I find it funny, and extremely entertaining every time I read intelligent philosophers' vehement attempts at coming up with a theodicy that holds some water from soul-making to the best possible world to evil is but the absence of good (Leibniz, Al-Ghazali, Malebranche, Geulincx,...)
@@LeevarkI mean... Yeah, without the ability for evil to occur, free will cannot occur. And without free will, such as in occasionalism, existence doesn't even make sense.
God doesn’t want anything but still has preferences regarding possible worlds? Found that kind odd. Because it doesn’t sound like Malenbranche is a voluntarist with the exception of that initial decision.
A Voluntarist wouldn't go into as much trouble to explain away evil. Malebranche's Moral Intellectualism recognises the objective existence of good and evil, but upholds that they are always aligned with God's creation/ actions, though at times this alignment might not be perceivable to us. It does look like an "it's all part of God's plan, and God's plan is good." At some point, one would have to either give up on one those 4: transcendence, justice, omni-benevolence, omnipotence, or cling to the unintelligibility of God's plan.
Bro what is evil ? positive propositions about Being are expressed in the following passage, where we see Qaysari describing certain qualities that apply specifi cally to God. In this passage, Qaysarī shifts the emphasis from the philoso phical term. Being to the theological term, God. As mentioned, Being and God in this tradition are used interchangeably: [God] is absolute good and everything that is good is from Him, by means of Him, and subsists through His Essence and for His Essence since He is not in need of anything other than Himself for His realiza tion, for He is subsistent and established by Himself and establishes all others. He has no beginning, otherwise it would be in need of an existing cause for its coming into being, for He would be contingent. He has no end, otherwise, He would be subject to non-being and thus described by its opposite, or undergo inversion. He is pre-eternal and everlasting, "the First, the Last, the Manifest and the Hidden" (57:3) because all that is manifest in the Visible or hidden in the Unseen returns to it. He is Omniscient with respect to all things because He encompasses all things by His Essence. The acquisition of knowledge by [any other] knower takes place through Him, so He is more entitled to it. In fact, all perfections are necessary for Him and all attributes are established by Him, such as life, knowledge, will, power, hearing, vision, and so on, for He is the Living, the Knower, the One who wills, the Powerful, the Hearing, the Seeing, by His own Essence not by means of anything else. Since, through Him, all things are attached to their perfec tions. Moreover, He is the one who manifests through His theophanies and transforms in various forms of those perfections." Theologically speaking, God is absolute good, and every good that appears in existence is from Him and subsists through Him. The good, in this sense, is ontological and not ethical; existence is a form of good and non-being is a form of "evil." This conception of the good, however, extends to the ethical dimension, since every virtue that the soul acquires is a form of the good, and thereby moves towards an ontological perfection. Conversely, every evil is a deficiency in acquiring a certain perfection. In the philosophical sense, evil is non-being while good is the soul's expansion. Being qua Being is neither preceded nor followed by non-being, and it exists neither through a cause nor is it transformed into non-being. Trans formation of Being into non-being is impossible, because by definition, Being is the contrary of non-being. Being cannot remain itself and at the same time transform into non-being. The Sufis also describe Being as light, based on the Qur'anic verse, "God is the light of the heavens and the earth" (24:35). Qaysari explains that Being becomes manifests through its own luminosity: Being is pure light, since all things are perceived through it. It is manifest by itself and through it, things are made manifest. Being is the light of the unseen heavens, the spirits, the earthly bodies and forms, because all of these are realized and exist through it. It is the source of all spiritual and corporeal lights." Being is both spiritual and material light. It illuminates the "heavens" of the unseen, the spirits of the immaterial and intellectual worlds. These worlds are luminous in essence though their light is a ray of divine light. The "earth" of material bodies refers to corporeal existence, which is the earth in relation to the unseen world. Thus, being is the source of all spiritual and corporeal light, which also refers to the inward spiritual realities and sensory objects, respectively. Although Being is light and illuminates all others, its Essence is known only by itself; thus, only God knows Himself. Quoted from Philosophical Sufism - the school of Ibn Arabi.
The Sufi theodicy shuns from addressing evil as a reality. Sufism traces the experience of evil to fatuous subjectivity. Yet, it seems that at its core Sufism is well aware and acceptant of the fact that the world is home to unspeakable evil, and it's evil that nothing can be done about. The only available line of action is to divert the attention from it. After all, this world is not heaven. It is a downgrade from the garden of Eden, and it should look, and feel unheavily. There is nothing wrong with that, and this doesn't undermine the grandeur of God. There's also the idea that true happiness is unachievable until one can glimpse at the face of God. The very fact that our bodies are made of flesh predisposes them to suffer. Sufism focuses on the idea that Godliness is the promise of what is perfect. It is not the delivery of what is perfect. Sufism abhors all types of duality: the subject/ object duality, the here/ there duality, the good and evil duality. The renunciation of duality blends well with the doctrine of the Unity of Being. The world is considered God's manifestation, and not God's creation. In sufism, everything is symbolic. Therefore, evil is not evil. Everything in the world owes its existence to God's immanence. And everything/ everybody should be thankful for getting to exist. There is a case to claim that sufism offers the best theodicy, and a case to claim that sufism only evades the problem of evil. The Sufi approach to evil is not theological or teleological. It's spiritual and mystical. It requires an entire paradigm shift. It is divorced from the reality of everyday life. And most importantly, it reverses Aristotlian logic, and one of the most fundamental principles, the law of non-contradiction. I prefer pixelated grass😁 cheers Zaky.
@@Leevark intresting so far you seem be amoung my few favourite western philosophy channel are also well verses in sufi metaphysics and theodicy can you make a video on The conference of Birds by fariduddin attar
@@zakyzayn5361 Thank you Zaky. It's always a pleasure to read your comments. You combine wit and information. This is the first time I hear about Fariduddin and the Conference of Birds. I've had a peek at what it's about, and it looks fascinating. I'll definitely read the poem, and will probably share my thoughts on it in a video.
Thanks much for this video.
My pleasure, the commitment of Occasionalists is fascinating.
Thanks for this video. Does occasionalism imply theological determinism? If so, then there is no free will and no possibility of freely 'choosing' between good and evil. God determines all of our decisions and who is ultimately 'saved' is divinely preordained, a la Calvinism. I also don't see how God is not then responsible for the horrendous suffering of his creatures.
Natural evil is the heaviest assault on Abrahamic Theism. I find it funny, and extremely entertaining every time I read intelligent philosophers' vehement attempts at coming up with a theodicy that holds some water from soul-making to the best possible world to evil is but the absence of good (Leibniz, Al-Ghazali, Malebranche, Geulincx,...)
@@LeevarkI mean... Yeah, without the ability for evil to occur, free will cannot occur. And without free will, such as in occasionalism, existence doesn't even make sense.
God doesn’t want anything but still has preferences regarding possible worlds?
Found that kind odd. Because it doesn’t sound like Malenbranche is a voluntarist with the exception of that initial decision.
A Voluntarist wouldn't go into as much trouble to explain away evil. Malebranche's Moral Intellectualism recognises the objective existence of good and evil, but upholds that they are always aligned with God's creation/ actions, though at times this alignment might not be perceivable to us.
It does look like an "it's all part of God's plan, and God's plan is good." At some point, one would have to either give up on one those 4: transcendence, justice, omni-benevolence, omnipotence, or cling to the unintelligibility of God's plan.
Bro what is evil ?
positive propositions about Being are expressed in the following passage, where we see Qaysari describing certain qualities that apply specifi cally to God. In this passage, Qaysarī shifts the emphasis from the philoso phical term. Being to the theological term, God. As mentioned, Being and God in this tradition are used interchangeably:
[God] is absolute good and everything that is good is from Him, by means of Him, and subsists through His Essence and for His Essence since He is not in need of anything other than Himself for His realiza tion, for He is subsistent and established by Himself and establishes all others.
He has no beginning, otherwise it would be in need of an existing cause for its coming into being, for He would be contingent. He has no end, otherwise, He would be subject to non-being and thus described by its opposite, or undergo inversion. He is pre-eternal and everlasting, "the First, the Last, the Manifest and the Hidden" (57:3) because all that is manifest in the Visible or hidden in the Unseen returns to it.
He is Omniscient with respect to all things because He encompasses all things by His Essence. The acquisition of knowledge by [any other] knower takes place through Him, so He is more entitled to it.
In fact, all perfections are necessary for Him and all attributes are established by Him, such as life, knowledge, will, power, hearing, vision, and so on, for He is the Living, the Knower, the One who wills, the Powerful, the Hearing, the Seeing, by His own Essence not by means of anything else. Since, through Him, all things are attached to their perfec tions. Moreover, He is the one who manifests through His theophanies and transforms in various forms of those perfections."
Theologically speaking, God is absolute good, and every good that appears in existence is from Him and subsists through Him. The good, in this sense, is ontological and not ethical; existence is a form of good and non-being is a form of "evil." This conception of the good, however, extends to the ethical dimension, since every virtue that the soul acquires is a form of the good, and thereby moves towards an ontological perfection. Conversely, every evil is a deficiency in acquiring a certain perfection. In the philosophical sense, evil is non-being while good is the soul's expansion.
Being qua Being is neither preceded nor followed by non-being, and it exists neither through a cause nor is it transformed into non-being. Trans formation of Being into non-being is impossible, because by definition, Being is the contrary of non-being. Being cannot remain itself and at the same time transform into non-being.
The Sufis also describe Being as light, based on the Qur'anic verse, "God is the light of the heavens and the earth" (24:35). Qaysari explains that Being becomes manifests through its own luminosity:
Being is pure light, since all things are perceived through it. It is manifest by itself and through it, things are made manifest. Being is the light of the unseen heavens, the spirits, the earthly bodies and forms, because all of these are realized and exist through it. It is the source of all spiritual and corporeal lights."
Being is both spiritual and material light. It illuminates the "heavens" of the unseen, the spirits of the immaterial and intellectual worlds. These worlds are luminous in essence though their light is a ray of divine light. The "earth" of material bodies refers to corporeal existence, which is the earth in relation to the unseen world. Thus, being is the source of all spiritual and corporeal light, which also refers to the inward spiritual realities and sensory objects, respectively. Although Being is light and illuminates all others, its Essence is known only by itself; thus, only God knows Himself.
Quoted from Philosophical Sufism - the school of Ibn Arabi.
damn dude, touch some grass.
@@sidkompella8692 ?
The Sufi theodicy shuns from addressing evil as a reality. Sufism traces the experience of evil to fatuous subjectivity. Yet, it seems that at its core Sufism is well aware and acceptant of the fact that the world is home to unspeakable evil, and it's evil that nothing can be done about. The only available line of action is to divert the attention from it. After all, this world is not heaven. It is a downgrade from the garden of Eden, and it should look, and feel unheavily. There is nothing wrong with that, and this doesn't undermine the grandeur of God. There's also the idea that true happiness is unachievable until one can glimpse at the face of God. The very fact that our bodies are made of flesh predisposes them to suffer. Sufism focuses on the idea that Godliness is the promise of what is perfect. It is not the delivery of what is perfect.
Sufism abhors all types of duality: the subject/ object duality, the here/ there duality, the good and evil duality. The renunciation of duality blends well with the doctrine of the Unity of Being. The world is considered God's manifestation, and not God's creation.
In sufism, everything is symbolic. Therefore, evil is not evil. Everything in the world owes its existence to God's immanence. And everything/ everybody should be thankful for getting to exist.
There is a case to claim that sufism offers the best theodicy, and a case to claim that sufism only evades the problem of evil. The Sufi approach to evil is not theological or teleological. It's spiritual and mystical. It requires an entire paradigm shift. It is divorced from the reality of everyday life. And most importantly, it reverses Aristotlian logic, and one of the most fundamental principles, the law of non-contradiction.
I prefer pixelated grass😁 cheers Zaky.
@@Leevark intresting so far you seem be amoung my few favourite western philosophy channel are also well verses in sufi metaphysics and theodicy can you make a video on The conference of Birds by fariduddin attar
@@zakyzayn5361 Thank you Zaky. It's always a pleasure to read your comments. You combine wit and information. This is the first time I hear about Fariduddin and the Conference of Birds. I've had a peek at what it's about, and it looks fascinating. I'll definitely read the poem, and will probably share my thoughts on it in a video.