Background and Objectives: Enjoining good and forbidding (EGFE) evil are two fundamental topics in Islam. Many verses and narratives underscore the social, religious and political duties implied by enjoining good and forbidding evil. After all, these two divine treasures have been neglected because of indulgence and forgetfulness. The prime reason for this negligence seems to be the obliviousne...

Background and Objectives: Enjoining good and forbidding (EGFE) evil are two fundamental topics in Islam. Many verses and narratives underscore the social, religious and political duties implied by enjoining good and forbidding evil. After all, these two divine treasures have been neglected because of indulgence and forgetfulness. The prime reason for this negligence seems to be the obliviousne...

In this paper, I propose a new response to a particular instance of the problem of evil: the problem of animal suffering. My solution, in brief, is that the rational theist may argue, justifiably, that an omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent God would not allow gratuitous animal suffering to occur, and, therefore, all instances of animal suffering that are encountered are not instanc...

John Hick, lecturer in the philosophy of religion at Cambridge University, has written one of the most serious and important studies of the problem of evil to appear in English for a long time. I t is a work both of historical interpretation and of systematic construction. While it is, under both aspects, not wholly invulnerable (what effort at reconciling evil and God ever is?), it is argued w...

In this paper I examine the psychological traits that can play a constitutive role in having an evil character, using a recent affect-based account by Colin McGinn as my starting point. I distinguish several such traits and defend the importance of both affect and action-based approaches. I then argue that someone who possesses these characteristics to the greatest possible extent—the purely ev...

The author notes an increased interest in the concept of "evil" in the fields of psychiatry and psychology. In particular, there is some interest in defining and testifying about evil. It is argued that evil can never be scientifically defined because it is an illusory moral concept, it does not exist in nature, and its origins and connotations are inextricably linked to religion and mythology....

Moral agency is the capacity to do right or wrong, whereas moral patiency is the capacity to be a target of right or wrong. Through 7 studies, the authors explored moral typecasting—an inverse relation between perceptions of moral agency and moral patiency. Across a range of targets and situations, goodand evil-doers (moral agents) were perceived to be less vulnerable to having good and evil do...

Moral agency is the capacity to do right or wrong, whereas moral patiency is the capacity to be a target of right or wrong. Through 7 studies, the authors explored moral typecasting-an inverse relation between perceptions of moral agency and moral patiency. Across a range of targets and situations, good- and evil-doers (moral agents) were perceived to be less vulnerable to having good and evil ...