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A Non-Doxastic Fear of Hell : On the Impact of Negative Factors for an Agnostic Religious Commitment

Palmqvist, Carl-Johan LU (2020) In Religions 11(8).
Abstract
On the standard view, an agnostic might commit non-doxastically to religion because she wants to receive some goods, which might be either natural or supernatural in kind. I broaden the picture by showing how the agnostic must also take negative factors into account. Negative mundane factors should be avoided as far as possible by the agnostic, and in extreme cases, even at the price of giving up supernatural goods. Negative supernatural factors, like eternal torment, work differently. An agnostic who considers an eternity of suffering in hell a live possibility might rationally make a religious commitment in order to avoid it. Non-doxastic religion is commonly conceived as requiring a pro-attitude. If fear can have the impact I suggest,... (More)
On the standard view, an agnostic might commit non-doxastically to religion because she wants to receive some goods, which might be either natural or supernatural in kind. I broaden the picture by showing how the agnostic must also take negative factors into account. Negative mundane factors should be avoided as far as possible by the agnostic, and in extreme cases, even at the price of giving up supernatural goods. Negative supernatural factors, like eternal torment, work differently. An agnostic who considers an eternity of suffering in hell a live possibility might rationally make a religious commitment in order to avoid it. Non-doxastic religion is commonly conceived as requiring a pro-attitude. If fear can have the impact I suggest, we must broaden the picture to allow for a negatively based commitment as well. To make explicit the kind of attitude relevant here, I offer an analysis of fear as a rational, non-doxastic attitude. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
agnosticism, non-doxasticism, hope, fear
in
Religions
volume
11
issue
8
article number
376
publisher
MDPI AG
external identifiers
  • scopus:85088554443
ISSN
2077-1444
DOI
10.3390/rel11080376
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
ef2adcb3-cced-48b1-8398-59951b4cd3b8
date added to LUP
2020-07-20 16:21:32
date last changed
2022-04-18 23:36:22
@article{ef2adcb3-cced-48b1-8398-59951b4cd3b8,
  abstract     = {{On the standard view, an agnostic might commit non-doxastically to religion because she wants to receive some goods, which might be either natural or supernatural in kind. I broaden the picture by showing how the agnostic must also take negative factors into account. Negative mundane factors should be avoided as far as possible by the agnostic, and in extreme cases, even at the price of giving up supernatural goods. Negative supernatural factors, like eternal torment, work differently. An agnostic who considers an eternity of suffering in hell a live possibility might rationally make a religious commitment in order to avoid it. Non-doxastic religion is commonly conceived as requiring a pro-attitude. If fear can have the impact I suggest, we must broaden the picture to allow for a negatively based commitment as well. To make explicit the kind of attitude relevant here, I offer an analysis of fear as a rational, non-doxastic attitude.}},
  author       = {{Palmqvist, Carl-Johan}},
  issn         = {{2077-1444}},
  keywords     = {{agnosticism; non-doxasticism; hope; fear}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{8}},
  publisher    = {{MDPI AG}},
  series       = {{Religions}},
  title        = {{A Non-Doxastic Fear of Hell : On the Impact of Negative Factors for an Agnostic Religious Commitment}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rel11080376}},
  doi          = {{10.3390/rel11080376}},
  volume       = {{11}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}