engleski

The Problem of Evil in Indian and Western Philosophy

With this presentation we want to draw attention to certain aspects of the problem of evil in India that are similar or can be interpreted very similarly as those in Western philosophy of religion. We will pay special attention to two basic concepts: (monotheistic) theism and (reality) of evil. Although monotheistic theism does not exist in India in principle, some authors speak of a concept that could be a bridge between monotheistic theism and polytheism: henotheism (Müller, Dasgupta, Iveković). Also, although Indians traditionally view evil as an illusion and thus deny the reality of evil, Indian philosophy does not deny the fact that evil seems real to us. What distinguishes Indians is that they have denied the metaphysical reality of evil. With this presentation we want to point out the mentioned differences, but also the similarities due to which, we believe, the problem of evil in the Western sense can still be viewed from an Indian perspective.

Problem of Evil, Reality of Evil, Monotheism, Henotheism

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