Array
(
    [fullTitle] => Good is overrated: on negative altruism as normative foundation for antitheism.
    [abstract] => 
In this article, I want to demonstrate the possibility of a normative theory which, if true, would make it impossible to think of God as morally good and therefore would “disqualify” him as God. I call this theory negative altruism (NA) and regard it as the true basis of social morality, as well as the appropriate normative foundation of antitheism. The article is structured as follows: first, I clarify some basic notions I proceed from (such as antithe-ism,  axiological  atheism  and  normative  pluralism),  second,  I  describe  the  normative logic of NA, and then I show why it makes impossible to present any theoretically conceivable creator of this universe as morally good. Lastly, after  some  remarks  on  why  I  find  NA  preferable  to  alternative  normative  theories, I explain in which sense it leads to antitheism.

    [authors] => Array
        (
            [0] => Array
                (
                    [givenName] => Andrei
                    [affiliation] => Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Science
                )

        )

    [keywords] => Array
        (
            [0] => altruism
            [1] => antitheism
            [2] => atheism
            [3] => good and evil
            [4] => normative ethics
        )

    [doi] => 10.24204/ejpr.2022.3660
    [datePublished] => 2022-12-16
    [pdf] => https://www.philosophy-of-religion.eu/menuscript/index.php/ejpr/article/view/3660/version/1045/2983
)
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Good is overrated: on negative altruism as normative foundation for antitheism.

Andrei
Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Science

DOI: https://doi.org/10.24204/ejpr.2022.3660

Abstract

In this article, I want to demonstrate the possibility of a normative theory which, if true, would make it impossible to think of God as morally good and therefore would “disqualify” him as God. I call this theory negative altruism (NA) and regard it as the true basis of social morality, as well as the appropriate normative foundation of antitheism. The article is structured as follows: first, I clarify some basic notions I proceed from (such as antithe-ism,  axiological  atheism  and  normative  pluralism),  second,  I  describe  the  normative logic of NA, and then I show why it makes impossible to present any theoretically conceivable creator of this universe as morally good. Lastly, after  some  remarks  on  why  I  find  NA  preferable  to  alternative  normative  theories, I explain in which sense it leads to antitheism.

Keywords: altruism

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