RT Article
T1 The commitment in feeling absolutely safe
JF International journal for philosophy of religion
VO 84
IS 2
SP 185
OP 203
A1 Kroesbergen, Hermen 1977-
LA English
YR 2018
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1663420017
AB The experience of feeling safe even in the midst of trials and temptations seems to be a central feature of the Christian faith. In this article I will try to solve some possible difficulties in understanding this kind of absolute safety by discussing some problems noted by philosophers in connection with the related statements by Socrates that a good man cannot be harmed, and by Wittgenstein that he sometimes feels absolutely safe, that nothing can injure him whatever happens. First, I will investigate whether there is an invalid prediction implied in this feeling of absolute safety: how can someone know that nothing will hurt him or her? Second, I will examine whether this experience of complete safety is dependent upon impossible requirements, such as to be a good man or an impeccable Christian. Third, I will consider the character of the people who claim absolute safety as portrayed by different philosophers: do these people really need to be so cold and inhumanly detached from the world for them to be able to say that nothing can hurt them? I will argue that if, instead of asking how someone can claim absolute safety, we ask to what someone commits him- or her-self in making this claim, these difficulties disappear.
K1 Absolute safety
K1 Commitment
K1 Ludwig Wittgenstein
K1 Peter Winch
K1 Socrates
DO 10.1007/s11153-018-9680-3