Animal Suffering, Selfhood and Eschatology: a Puzzle for Theodicy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5944/endoxa.54.2024.30716Keywords:
theodicy, animal suffering, transmigration, consciousness, eschatology, heavenAbstract
Animal suffering is the highest hurdle for theodicy. Neither the defense of the higher-order good nor resorting to eschatology, standard justifications for human suffering, are of any use here. Theism needs a deep reform to explore new paths. We survey here the hypotheses of a heaven or Paradise for animals and of the transmigration of their souls, together with the connected issue of consciousness and selfhood in higher animals. After rejecting both the idea of a specific heaven for animals and that animals are human souls expiating their sins, we conclude that higher animals are persons, and
we conjecture that, if they possessed a spiritual essence, an haecceitas, they could mature
intellectually and morally along the evolutionary process through increasingly complex
successive biological organisms, until they eventually become rational and worthy of
reaching a heavenly state.
Downloads
References
ALONSO, L. (2017). «La sorprendente inteligencia de los cefalópodos», Investigación y ciencia, Nº 84, pp. 94-95.
BAKER, L.R. (2020). «Christians Should Reject Mind-body Dualism». En PETERSON & VANARRAGON. (2020), pp. 353-362.
BERNABÉ, A. et al. (eds). (2011): Reencarnación. La transmigración de las almas entre Oriente y Occidente. Madrid: Abada.
BYERLY, T.R. & SILVERMAN, E.J. (eds.) (2017). Paradise Understood. New Philosophical Essays about Heaven. Oxford: Oxford Uni. Press.
CLARK, S.R. (2013). «Animals». En TALIAFERRO (2013), pp. 528-540.
CAVALIERY, P & SINGER, P. (eds). (1993). The Great Ape Project: Equality Beyond Humanity. New York: St. Martin Press.
DONALDSON, S. & KYMLICKA, W (2011). Zoopolis. A political Theory of Animal rights. New York: Oxford Uni. Press.
DOUGHERTY, T. (2014). The Problem of Animal Pain. A Theodicy for All Creatures, Great and Small. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
FRANCIONE, G. (2000). Introduction to Animal Rights: Your Child or the Dog? Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
GOLDSMITH, T. & SEACORD, B. (2013). «Judaism, Reincarnation, and Theodicy». Faith and Philosophy Vol. 30/4, pp. 393-417.
GRAVES, S., HERRETH, B. & JOHN, T.M. (2017). «In Defense of Animal Universalism». En BYERLY & SILVERMAN (2017), pp. 161-192.
HICK, J. (1976). Death and Eternal Life. London: Collins.
HICK, J. (1977). Evil and the God of Love. 2ª ed. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
LEIBNIZ, G.W.F. (2015) [1710]. Ensayos de teodicea. Madrid: Abada.
LIMA DE SOUZA, S. et al (2021). «Cyclic alternation of quiet and active sleep states in the octopus». https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(21)00191-7?utm_source=EA
LÓPEZ SALVÁ, M. Y HERRERO, M. (2011): «Cristianismo primitivo». En Bernabé, A. et al. (2011), pp. 385-416.
LOWE, E.J. (1996). Subjects of Experience. Cambridge: Cambridge Uni. Press.
MARSHALL, Ch. R., LATORRE, D.V, WILSON, C.J. et al. (2021). «Absolute abundance and preservation rate of Tyrannosaurus rex». Science Vol. 372, Nº 6539, pp. 284-287.
MITCHELL, R. W. (1993). «Humans, Nonhumans and Personhood». En CAVALIERI & SINGER (1993), pp. 237-247.
MURRAY, M. (2008). Nature Red in Tooth and Claw. Theism and the Problem of Animal Suffering. New York. Oxford Uni. Press.
NOSKE, B. (1993). «Great Apes as Anthropological Subjects». En CAVALIERI & SINGER (1993), 258-268.
O’FLAHERTY, W.D. (1980). «Karma and rebirth in the Vedas and Puranas». En O’Flaherty (ed.) (1980), pp. 3-37.
O’FLAHERTY, W.D. (ed.) (1980): Karma and Rebirth in Classical Indian Traditions. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
PETERSON, M.L. & VANARRAGON, R.J. (eds.) (2020). Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Religion. 2ª ed. Hoboken NJ: Wiley Blackwell.
ROCHER, L. (1980). «Karma and Rebirth in the Dharmasastras». En O’Flaherty (ed.) (1980), pp. 61-89.
ROWLANDS, M. (2009). Animal rights. Moral Theory and Practice. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.
STEINER, G. (2008). Animals and the Moral Community: Mental Life, Moral Status, and Kinship. New York: Columbia University Press.
STEVENSON, I. (1980). Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation. Charlotesville: Univ. of Virginia Press.
SWEDENBORG, E. (2009). Divine Providence. West Chester PA: Swedenborg Foundation.
SWINBURNE, R. (1998). Providence and the Problem of Evil. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
SWINBURNE, R. (2019). Are we Bodies or Souls? Oxford: Oxford Uni. Press.
TALIAFERRO, CH. (1995). «Animals, Brains and Spirits». Faith and Philosophy. Vol. 12/4, pp. 567-571.
TALIAFERRO, CH., HARRISON, V.S. & GOETZ, S. (eds.) (2013). The Routledge Companion to Theism. New York/Oxford: Routledge.
TOMAS DE AQUINO (2013). Suma Teológica. Madrid: B.A.C.
WALLS, J. (1996). «As the Waters Cover the Sea. John Wesley on the Problem of Evil». Faith and Philosophy Vol. 13/4, pp. 534-562.
WHITE, T. (2007). In Defense of Dolphins: The New Moral Frontier. Oxford: Blackwell.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 ENDOXA
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The authors who publish in this journal must agree to the following terms:
- The authors hold author’s rights and guarantee the journal the right to be the first to publish the work as well as the Creative Commons Attribution License which allows others to share the work as long as they acknowledge the authorship of the work and its initial publication in this journal.
- The authors can establish, on their own, additional agreements for the non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in the journal (for example, placing it in an institutional repository or publishing it in a book), always acknowledging the initial publication in this journal.
- The authors are allowed and encouraged to disseminate their work electronically (for example, in institutional repositories or on their own webpages) before and during the submission process, as this can give rise to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and increased citing of the works published (See The Effect of Open Access).
