Anthropodicy
The term anthropodicy ( ancient Greek ἄνθρωπος ánthrōpos 'man' and δίκη díkē 'justice') is a relatively new word creation, based on the older term theodicy . It is rarely found in philosophical literature before the middle of the 20th century. Anyone who strives for a theodicy asks for a justification from God - his actions and omissions - in view of the evils in the world. Anyone who strives for an anthropodicy asks for a justification of the human being with regard to man-made evils.
The question of an anthropodicy is derived from two main statements:
- By stating that there is no God , people are fully responsible for man-made evils.
- People who believe in God can say that people should be because God created them. Let man be there to praise God. If a human ought to be is neither anchored in God, nor in divine creation , in being or in natural conditions or can be derived from these, then those who have descendants are jointly responsible for their and future generations' unfortunate experiences .
In particular, events such as the world wars , the mass murder of the Jews , the Gulag , the mass murders in Cambodia , Rwanda and the Congo and the apparent inability of world society to rule out future mass murders seem to suggest the position of anti- natalism. A successful anthropodicy would therefore be a justification for the creation of new people in the knowledge of impending suffering, which people are expected to face when people are created. Suffering people only exist when new people are created. If no new people were created, humanity would disappear from the earth within a short time. At the same time, this would remove the condition of the possibility of further mass extermination of people by people.
An anthropodicy would have been successful if it could present convincing arguments for the creation and the ought to be of future people. She would have to indicate what will compensate for the suffering people will suffer when there are people in the future. From a theological- Christian point of view, potentially timeless love is suitable for such compensation for all temporal evils.
In general, no anthropodicy seems to be formulable without strong metaphysics . Strong metaphysics are, for example, philosophical theology and ontology (doctrine of being).
According to the philosophical theology of Hans Jonas , we must “not abandon God” and disappear from the earth on the path of non-descendants. Jonas' ontology knows a “call of being” going out to people, which people have to listen to and implement as an invitation to the continued existence of humanity.
literature
- Karim Akerma : Is humanity ebbing? Neganthropy and anthropodicy. Karl Alber Verlag, Munich / Freiburg 2000
- Karim Akerma: Should there be humanity? A fundamental ethical question. Cuxhaven 1995
- David Benatar : Better never to have been. The harm of coming into existence. Oxford University Press 2006
- Emil Cioran : The Missing Creation. Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt a. M 1979
- Harald Holz : Anthropodicy. On the incarnation of reason in history. Frankfurt a. M./Bern 1982; and work edition 14, Berlin / Bochum / London / Paris 2009, ISBN 978-3-89966-414-0
- Martin Neuffer : No to life. An essay. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 1992
- Ulrich Horstmann : The monster. Contours of a philosophy of flight. Vienna [u. a.] 1983. ISBN 3-88602-075-4 (reprint Warendorf 2004. ISBN 3-936345-47-3 )
