RT Article
T1 Aspirational theism and gratuitous suffering
JF Religious studies
VO 57
IS 2
SP 287
OP 300
A1 Licon, Jimmy Alfonso
LA English
PB Cambridge Univ. Press
YR 2021
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/180436360X
AB Philosophers have long wondered whether God exists; and yet, they have ignored the question of whether we should hope that He exists - call this stance aspirational theism. In this article, I argue that we have a weighty pro tanto reason to adopt this stance: theism offers a metaphysical guarantee against gratuitous suffering (i.e. God would not permit gratuitous suffering). On the other hand, few atheist alternatives offer such a guarantee - and even then, there are reasons to worry that they are inferior to the theistic alternative. Given this difference, we have a strong pro tanto, but not all-things-considered, reason to adopt aspirational theism.
DO 10.1017/S0034412519000210