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Lumen Fidei (The Light of Faith) is intended as the guiding magisterial document for the Year of Faith. Faith is the gateway to salvation. To reach eternal , it is necessary to have been baptized sacramentally and to die sincerely professing the Catholic faith.
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Ethical dilemmas raised by the use of nanotechnology in medical practice can be viewed from several perspectives: religious spiritualist perspective, the perspective of human dignity (nanotechnologies can be thought of as an affront to human dignity), the issue of controversial choice. The article aims to expose some bioethical dilemmas in using synthetic biology and nanotechnologies. Nowadays is often brought into discussion the fact it is possible to appear in the future new human species resulted not via natural selection and evolution, but through the demiurgic effect of technology development in areas such as: synthetic biology, genetics, neurobiology and neurosciences, prosthesis technology and not least of artificial intelligence research. We will also refer into this paper at the possible raised challenges to ethicists who are oriented towards an ethics of species. Those challenges are raised right from the dawn of a consciousness of species, a social construction generated by changes of the meaning of belonging to humanity. During our article we argue that medical technology, especially genetics, medical assisted human reproduction and not least synthetic biology, require a rethinking ethical meanings of applying those technologies in everyday practices.
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The principles of medical ethics, common as they are in the world at the present time, have been formed in the context of Western secular communities; consequently, secular principles and values are inevitably manifested in all corners of medical ethics. Medical ethics is at its infancy in Iran. In order to incorporate medical ethics into the country’s health system, either the same thoughts, principles, rules, and codes of Western communities should be translated and taught across the country, or else, if the principles and values and consequently the prominent moral rules and codes of Western medical ethics are not consistent with the culture, customs, and religion of our country, then new principles and values should be formulated that are more in harmony with our society. According to the available literature in Iran, the four principles proposed by Beauchamp and Childress do not contradict the Islamic-Iranian culture and can thus be generally applied in the mentioned context. However, the application of these four principles and their derivatives (e.g. regulations and codes) requires careful examination and adaptation to Islamic ethics. A comparison of the ontological, anthropological and epistemological foundations of secular and Islamic attitudes shows the differences between these two attitudes to be deep-rooted. “Rationalism,” “scientism,” and “humanism” are the main foundations of secularism, whereas “Godcentrism,” “pure human servitude to God,” the belief in “returning of humans to God,” “resurrection day,” and also human’s accountability to God are all fundamental beliefs and principles of religion for Muslims of all cults and sects. It can thus be concluded that the principles of secularist thought are different from and to some extent inconsistent with the principles of Islam. Instructions derived from secular thought can therefore not be implemented in an Islamic community; rather, these communities should adopt Islamic foundations as the source for the norms and standards of their medical ethics. The capacities of religious thought (in particular, Islam) make possible the formation of an ethical system consistent with Islamic Ummah.
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The task of this essay is a reconsideration and rehabilitation of the fourth way of Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae. The argument ex gradibus is first presented with attention to the philosophical-theological context of the five ways, in addition to matters of historical context. It will become clear that the arguments are enthymematic and should thus be read charitably in connection with other aspects of Aquinas’ philosophy (cf. Copleston 1976; Fogelin 1990; Kerr 2001). Moreover, in contrast to the prevailing sentiment that the fourth way should be read primarily in a Platonic light (cf., e.g., Van Steenberghen 1980), I argue that the fourth way should rather be read in connection with other crucial aspects of Aquinas’ metaphysics of being (cf. Urban 1984). Finally, I reconsider some of the fundamental aspects of the argument, e.g., the ‘principle of the maximum’ (cf. Flew 1966, Kenny 1969, Van Steenberghen 1980, Doolan 2008). The upshot is a clearer understanding of what Aquinas actually means in the fourth way, which in turn enables a more informed evaluation of the argument itself.
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The article presents Fyodor Dostoevsky’s considerations of freedom based on both The Brothers Karamazov and The Idiot. The writer shows, that dealing with own freedom is one of the greatest tasks in human life and man's future fate depends wholly on how he copes with this task. Freedom is a fundamental concept in a philosophical anthropology of the Russian novelist. According to his grasp of the problem of evil this is a man, who appears the source of all misery, which he brings upon himself, among which not atheism but false understanding of God is the greatest one.
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We contend that a very seductive argument for theological fatalism fails. In the course of our discussion we point out that theological fatalism is incompatible with the existence of a being who is omnipotent, omniscient and infallible. We suggest that ‘possible’ formalized as ‘‘ is to be understood as ‘can or could have been’ and not simply as ‘can’. The argument we discuss conflates the two. We end by rounding out, hopefully, some left over corners of serious concern to the theist.
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We explain that the scientific attitude, with a “good understanding” of what is science, might be the most genuinely religious attitude, and that in fact, religion and science are much closer than what we are usually told. Nevertheless they cannot be identified effectively in any terrestrial applications without leading to inconsistency, but are truly, and thus non effectively, identical in the ever guessed true realm.
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The article is an attempt to formulate a Thomistic spiritual philosophy of recovery. The author faces two issues. One, what do recovering alcoholics mean when they say: “I am spiritual, but not religious?” He comes to the conclusion that it means recovering alcoholics are experiencing spiritual healing in their willingness to trust a loving God who has performed a miracle of recovery from alcoholism in their life. As a result of this experience, they are prepared to live a life of virtuous habit. Two, recovering alcoholics have discovered a spiritual second nature of moral character. The author explains why there are many in A.A. who discover that as God comes into their life and they turn to the path of virtue they rediscover religious worship and devotion is essential to the one day at a time journey.
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The purpose of this study is to examine the topic of older people in the world from the perspective of the Social Teaching of the Church. As explained in Christifideles Laici, the Catholic Church believes that the laity is summoned to pave the way for the arrival of God's Kingdom, and people who are at an advanced age should still respond to God's calling through their own unique way of contribution. In Familiaris Consortia it is emphasized that the Church should help older people manifest their roles both in families and religious groups. Although it is mentioned in these two apostolic exhortations that older people are blessed with wisdom, it is not explained as they actually acquire such a blessing. In order to address this issue and elaborate on the meaning of older people's wisdom, Grün's theory on the nature of older people's wisdom and where such a blessing comes from is insade reference to in this study. Moreover, it is emphasized in the apostolic exhortation of Familiaris Consortio that older people are often marginalized in today's industrialized and urbanized society and neglected in their families, while also enduring psychological and/or physical pain. Addressing this issue, the value of older people's work and their unshirkable missions and duties are explained in the present study by examining the nature and value of man's work as mentioned in Laboretn Exercens. Sen's "capability approach" is also utilized in the present study as a way to examine older people's values and the deprivation of their capability, allowing an in-depth analysis of this topic. The findings of this study reveal that Grun's theory of older people's wisdom being shaped by their life-experiences is significantly complementary to the messages on older people in Christifideles Laici and Familiaris Consortio. While Sen's capability approach does not offer a complete set of values or cultural system that solves this problem, the approach of "civilization of love" proposed in the Social Teaching of the church is very useful in helping one contemplate on the problems faced by older people around the world.
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The House of Wisdom (Bayt al-Hikmah) was built first as a library where the books on the sciences of the Ancients were kept. Under the sponsorship of the Caliph Al-Ma’m¯un (813–833), it developed into a scientific institute where the books on Ancient Greek philosophy were translated into Arabic. The Caliph acquired many Greek manuscripts and generously supported the translation activities in the House. By the end of the century, Arabic translation of the major works of the Greek philosophy and science had been completed. Thus, the Caliph and his House paved the way for the rise and flourish of Islamic philosophy and science.
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This article interprets Eckhart’s contradictions by presenting them as a result of an existential search for salvific power. It is shown that power is ambivalent in nature: it is the power of what is and the power of (self)overcoming (of what is). Just because power is in itself ambivalent and the process of searching for it existentialist (so not completely conscious), Eckhart’s mystical texts are full of contradictions and the German mystic is apparently not aware of it. The sample of them is shown in this article with regard to his ideas on God and man. Three other interpretations of Eckhart’s (“apophatic,” “educational,” “methodological”) are presented and argued against.
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The aim of my paper is to assess in a critical way the views presented by Graeme Smith in his book A Short History of Secularism (2008) as well as in his paper Talking to Ourselves: An Investigation into the Christian Ethics Inherent in Secularism (2017). According to Smith, secular Western societies are underpinned by Christian ethics. An example of a moral norm that – in Smith’s opinion – derives from medieval Christianity and shapes the moral condition of the members of contemporary societies, is the concern about the poor. My criticism of Smith’s thesis is based on the distinction between moral norms and the ways of justifying them. Referring to this distinction, my objective is to show that certain norms which appear to be the same cannot be treated as identical due to the significant differences in their justification.
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The article discusses the issue of possibilities in the context of Abbagnano’s perspective on traditional philosophy. Following the founder of the philosophy of possibilities, certain philosophers were selected who in the opinion of the Italian existentialist had a significant impact on culture and philosophical tradition. Therefore, only three figures are discussed: Augustine, Descartes and Kant.
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This study examines the miracle of the March of Stones and Mountains found in Abdal Musa Velâyetnâmesi in terms of time, space and object. Sufism which appeared in the 9th century is the foundation of sufi school in the 15th century. As a result of narrating and recording the miracles and supernatural states of school’s leading personalities, the genre of hagiography (menâkıbnâme or velâyetnâme) came to shape. In Alevi–Bektashi tradition, these works took the name of hagiography in 15th century in the Anatolian field. The holy man also known as Abdal Musa Sultan, as a member of Hacı Bektaşi Velî –one of the Ahmed Yesevi dervishes– is a Turkish eren who lived in the 14th century. In the preparation of this document, the main source is Abdal Musa Velâyetnâmesi translated into Latin alphabet by Abdurrahman Güzel, published in 1999. In the first part of the study, the terms of menâkıbnâme and velâyetnâme are covered also brief information about Abdal Musa is given. The second section involves the concepts of time, space and object by naming them the three factors and mentioned about the chained nature of these factors. In the third section the analysis of the miracle according to the three factors begins. Later on, the symbols are analyzed following the order they are located in the text. Furthermore, beside the traditions of Alevism and Bektashi, Anatolian and certain international cultures are also used in the evaluation of the symbolic meanings. In the last segment of the analysis several symbols are compared to each other. Abdurrahman Güzel’s text of the miracle and the variants of Abdal Musa are given at the end of the appendix study.
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The paper analyzes a phenomenon that could be called, from the philosophical point of view, a ’presence of absolute Oneness’. Descriptions of the phenomenon may be found in the writings of the mystics of all major religions. The constructivists, nevertheless, repudiate the possibility of an unmediated mystical experience. The paper focuses on the notion of the Absolute and its presence in human consciousness as it is found in the writings of Plotinus and Zhuangzi. These two philosophers talk similarly about the One as the source and purpose of all Being, despite belonging to different intellectual traditions. The paper analyzes the state of the wakeful though contentless consciousness that is of most importance for both authors. It is not an achieved union between the human and the Divine and not a perception of the oneness of the world observed from the outside. The paper raises the question: even though such presence of absolute Oneness is described in terms of a particular religious and/or philosophical tradition, can it be considered a ’religious experience’ or even ’experience’ at all?
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Unlike Marxism, atheistic existentialism does not bring about a shift of hope but a radical critique of hope. It proposes despair as a guarantee of intellectual honesty. In this context G. Marcel’s phenomenology of hope rehabilitates hope, just as much at the practical level - against stoicism – as at the speculative level – against the glorifying of metaphysical anguish. The question of absolute hope, which is at the heart of the philosophy of the absurd, calls for an Marcel’s internal critique of the refusal of salvation. The question also calls for the light of theology which identifies atheistic existentialists to be secularizing the theme of the book of Job.
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This article discusses the origins and transformation of the idea of the absurd in the modern secularized world. Submitted for consideration is the Latin locution “credo quia absurdum,” a saying ascribed to Tertullian, and how this locution was implicated in the evolution of the idea of the absurd and reflected in literature and art. Examined in the paper are the modifications caused by existential and social changes as well as the interaction of both objective and subjective factors. Using sociohistorical arguments, the author begins to polemicize with the absurdity-suggestive deduction considering the emptiness of existence and the absence of God as somewhat absolute facts. Regarding the reflection of absurdity in Lithuanian culture, the context of religious existentialism, represented by such works as Jobo drama (The Drama of Job) by A. Maceina and Žmogus be Dievo (Man without God) by J. Girnius, was of significant importance. The abovementioned works stimulated a deeper and more authentic artistic insight into the problem. In the panorama of Lithuanian literature of the 20th century, signs of absurdity can be seen in the works of classical (V. Mykolaitis-Putinas, B. Sruoga, H. Radauskas, M. Martinaitis), avantgarde (P. Morkūnas, S. Šemetys) and postmodern (M. Ivaškevičius, S. Parulskis, G. Grajauskas) authors. The performances of A. Ambrasas, which were staged at the Institute of Art in the late sixties, stand out as a distinguishing and methodically framed phenomenon of the theatre of the absurd.
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Taking advantage of the papal idea of the new evangelization, the author presents the problems of the affirmation of truth and tolerance. This problem seems to be very current in the Polish context, ideological as well as religious and cultural. A. Perzyński analyzes the theological foundations of tolerance and dialogue and then finds that truth is the basis of dialogue. It is not the pluralism of options that constitutes the goal of dialogue. Such pluralism demands that we defeat it. From an ideal point of view, Christians must tend to an animosity. The new evangelization is the call to deepen and to always sell the evangelical truths. To preach the Gospel must go together with the attitude that affirms the hope that is in us (1 Pet 3:15).
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