Schelling’s pantheism and the problem of evil

2017

ABSTRACTAny religious worldview, understood in the sense that ‘life has a purpose’, has to face the problem of evil. The problem of evil has been particularly intensively discussed in the Aristotelian–Scholastic–Christian tradition. The most popular solution has been to deny that anything truly evil actually exists. It is hard to conceive why an omnipotent and perfectly good God would allow evil to appear. Yet, Western culture has been and still is full of imagery of absolute demonic evil. I suggest that this strained dialectic could be best approached by radically rethinking the nature of evil and the theological context in which it has traditionally been thought. In his middle period work…

Schelling, esotericism and the meaning of life

2019

Abstract F.W.J. Schelling argues in his middle period work Philosophical Inquiries into the Nature of Human Freedom that will should be understood as the most fundamental constitutive element of reality. Though it is often downplayed in recent scholarship, Schelling derived his most central ideas for this work more or less directly from the theosophy of Jacob Boehme. I will argue that far from peripheral and antiquated curiosity, Schelling´s esoteric influences constitute the very foundation of his middle period thought. Schelling´s affinity to esotericism enabled him to develop a form of pantheism, which is not tied to the familiar problematic aspects of traditional Christian and post-Chri…

12. (Pathologies of) Recognition in Schelling´s Thought on Evil

2015

This paper departs from the observation that there is on several levels a growing antagonism in our society between two opposite mentalities: a liberal, universalistic mentality that trusts in rationality (termed ‘McWorld’ by political theorist Benjamin Barber in Barber, 1992), and a conservative mentality that relies on the weight of tradition (Barber’s term for this is ‘Jihad’). The argument in this paper is that these mentalities are not absolutely incompatible, but that the hostility between them results largely from fundamental internal inconsistencies that are suppressed and projected onto the other. In explicating this argument, the paper uses F.W.J. Schelling’s (1992 [1809]) metaphy…

(Pathologies of) Recognition in Schelling's Thought on Evil

2015

Re-Enchantment and Contemporary Demonology

2017

Moraalinen ja metafyysinen paha : vapaus ja pahuus Immanuel Kantin ja F.W.J. Schellingin filosofiassa

2011

Selvitän pro gradu-tutkielmassani saksalaisten idealistien Immanuel Kantin ja F.W.J. Schellingin käsityksiä vapaudesta ja pahuudesta. Esitän että Kant ja Schelling lähestyvät vapautta ja pahaa hyvin erilaisten oletusten pohjalta ja päätyvät siten erilaisiin lopputuloksiin. Toisaalta Kantilla ja Schellingillä on myös yhteinen oletus siinä, että näkevät vapauden tehdä pahaa ilman redukstiota kausaalisiin selityksiin välttämättömäksi ihmisen tahdonvapaudelle. Kantille keskeinen lähtökohta on ihminen ”kahden maailman kansalaisena”. Kant käsittää luonnon, johon ihminenkin kuuluu, täysin kausaalis-mekaanisena kokonaisuutena. Siten ihmisen vapauden täytyy Kantin mukaan perustua sille, että ihmistä…

Susan Neimanin ylihistoriallinen tulkinta pahan ongelmasta

2014