tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post7838393731582730592..comments2024-03-27T20:37:09.185-05:00Comments on Alexander Pruss's Blog: Art as discovery and mathematics as artAlexander R Prusshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05989277655934827117noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-58948780198928090572013-09-06T22:02:41.129-05:002013-09-06T22:02:41.129-05:00Well, there certainly are entities that exhibit ba...Well, there certainly are entities that exhibit badness. I am one of them. :-( <br /><br />I wouldn't say that a virus is evil in and of itself. It just causes harm to other things. But that's a matter of the arrangement of the rest of the universe, not of its intrinsic features. We could have a world where HIV viruses do nothing but provide great joy to scientists who admire their beauty as they reproduce in an appropriate culture medium. But alas our world isn't like that: in our world, the viruses cause great misery. But misery isn't their essential aim. Their essential aim, if they have one (are viruses alive? if not, I am not sure they exist--maybe there are just field or particles arranged viruswise), is survival and reproduction.<br />Alexander R Prusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05989277655934827117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-82820554098678337872013-09-06T21:41:50.167-05:002013-09-06T21:41:50.167-05:00Do you think that any genuine entities are bad or ...Do you think that any genuine entities are bad or at least somewhat bad? If so, does that entail that God has made some bad or somewhat bad things?<br /><br />Maybe the view would be that God makes some things which (as it happens) are bad, but that God does not make them bad (i.e., cause them to be bad)? If so, there might be a concern that this does not work for the case of things (such as an AIDS virus or a tick) which are essentially bad/somewhat-bad.<br /><br />I find myself pushed toward a pluriverse view to avoid the conclusion that God has caused some entities to be at least somewhat bad. But I'm interested to know what other views a theist might take on this.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06251565524682589544noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-45431736426479869342013-09-05T21:45:01.542-05:002013-09-05T21:45:01.542-05:00Relatively ho-hum. :-)
As for the greatest evils,...Relatively ho-hum. :-)<br /><br />As for the greatest evils, evil is but a privation, so where the evil is, there is a good, too, against the background of which the evil is an evil. Where there is pain or vice, there is a mind in pain or a vicious will--and a mind or will is a beautiful thing.Alexander R Prusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05989277655934827117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-62868241562920043352013-09-05T21:06:10.154-05:002013-09-05T21:06:10.154-05:00Everywhere? Including in the most horrible evils? ...Everywhere? Including in the most horrible evils? <br /><br />In any case, your reference to the "ho-hum" suggests the following question: does God find anything ho-hum? It seems boredom isn't a perfection, and so can't be attributed to God. But if God doesn't find anything ho-hum or boring, then it seems to follow that nothing is ho-hum. Mikhailhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12450984267503289001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-30011567322532121062013-09-05T11:39:14.801-05:002013-09-05T11:39:14.801-05:00I am actually inclined to think there is beauty ev...I am actually inclined to think there is beauty everywhere, but it differs in degrees. Much of the space may be ho-hum.Alexander R Prusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05989277655934827117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-28194003155777848672013-09-05T09:59:01.195-05:002013-09-05T09:59:01.195-05:00If badness is a privation, does the space of possi...If badness is a privation, does the space of possible images contain ugly images? And if it doesn't, what is the artist "discovering"?Mikhailhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12450984267503289001noreply@blogger.com