Photo copyright: Susanna Suomela
WP2 examines how both religious and secular viewpoints in contemporary philosophy theorize suffering, mortality, hope, and the meaning of life.
While the problem of evil has been extensively addressed in the philosophy of religion, WP2 is not primarily concerned with common forms of theistic theodicies and their critiques. Instead, the team is interested in the fundamental theological-philosophical and ethical problems inherent in the debate on theodicy, which have recently emerged in the schools of thought representing antitheodicy. WP2 examines how ethics and philosophy of religion might be reformulated in response to the issues highlighted by antitheodicy. Philosophical and theological traditions that reject instrumentalist views of suffering hidden in theology, philosophy of religion, and secular viewpoints are particularly intriguing in this regard.
Although the group's main research focus is on contemporary debates, the earlier variations of optimism and pessimism in modern philosophy are potential research topics, e.g., how “Enlightenment optimism” and the pessimist tradition in modern philosophy are related to meliorism and antitheodicy. Can meliorism, conjoined with antitheodicy, be developed as a critical alternative to both Enlightenment optimism and the pessimist tradition? How should Enlightenment classics be interpreted in this regard?