What Is Nirvana? Nirvana or nirvāṇa (निर्वाण nirvāṇa; निब्बान nibbāna; णिव्वाण ṇivvāṇa, literally “blown out”, as in an oil lamp) is commonly associated with Jainism and Buddhism, and represents its ultimate state of soteriological release, the liberation from repeated rebirth in saṃsāra. In Indian religions, nirvana is synonymous with moksha and mukti. All Indian religions...
Argument From Free Will The argument from free will, also called the paradox of free will or theological fatalism, contends that omniscience and free will are incompatible and that any conception of God that incorporates both properties is therefore inherently contradictory. These arguments are deeply concerned with the implications of predestination. Omniscience and free will...
Predestination In Calvinism Predestination is a doctrine in Calvinism dealing with the question of the control that God exercises over the world. In the words of the Westminster Confession of Faith, God “freely and unchangeably ordained whatsoever comes to pass.” The second use of the word “predestination” applies this to the salvation, and refers...
Free Will In Theology Free will in theology is an important part of the debate on free will in general. Religions vary greatly in their response to the standard argument against free will and thus might appeal to any number of responses to the paradox of free will, the claim that omniscience and free will are...
What Is Predestination? Predestination, in theology, is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God, usually with reference to the eventual fate of the individual soul. Explanations of predestination often seek to address the “paradox of free will“, whereby God‘s omniscience seems incompatible with human free will. In this usage, predestination can be...
Libertarianism In Metaphysics Libertarianism is one of the main philosophical positions related to the problems of free will and determinism, which are part of the larger domain of metaphysics. In particular, libertarianism, which is an incompatibilist position, argues that free will is logically incompatible with a deterministic universe and that agents have free will, and that, therefore, determinism...
Incompatibilism Incompatibilism is the view that a deterministic universe is completely at odds with the notion that persons have free will; that there is a dichotomy between determinism and free will where philosophers must choose one or the other. This view is pursued in at least three ways: libertarians deny that the universe is...
The Manifest Record And The Manifest Book This article covers The Manifest Record and the Manifest Book. For example, a seed exhibits Destiny in two ways: demonstrating the Manifest Record (Imamun Mubin) and displaying the Manifest Book (Kitabun Mubin). The Manifest Record, another title for Divine Knowledge and Command, includes...
Destiny And Human Free Will This article covers the answer to the question: “What Is The relationship Between Destiny And Human Free Will?“ Human free will exists because: We feel remorse when we do something wrong. We beg God’s forgiveness for our sins. If we trouble or harm someone, we...
Questions On Destiny And Human Free Will This article covers some interesting questions and answers on Destiny And Human Free Will. Question: Are we victims of Destiny? Do we have any part in the calamities befalling us? Answer: As this question has been discussed earlier, I will present a summarized...
Divine Decree And Destiny This article covers the answer to the question: “What is Divine Decree and Destiny?“ Divine Knowledge God is completely beyond our abilities of comparison and conception, and so we can acquire only some knowledge of His Attributes and Names, not of His Divine Essence, by meditating...
What Is Free Will? Free will is the ability to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded. Free will is closely linked to the concepts of responsibility, praise, guilt, sin, and other judgements which apply only to actions that are freely chosen. It is also connected with the concepts of advice, persuasion, deliberation,...
Buddhist Ethics Buddhist ethics are traditionally based on what Buddhists view as the enlightened perspective of the Buddha, or other enlightened beings such as Bodhisattvas. The Indian term for ethics or morality used in Buddhism is Śīla (शील) or sīla (Pāli). Śīla in Buddhism is one of three sections of the Noble Eightfold Path, and is a...
Will (Philosophy) Will, generally, is that faculty of the mind which selects, at the moment of decision, the strongest desire from among the various desires present. Will does not refer to any particular desire, but rather to the mechanism for choosing from among one’s desires. Within philosophy the will is important...
What Is Freedom? This article covers the answer to the question: “What Is Freedom?” Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or possessing the power and resources to fulfill one’s purposes. In one definition, something is “free” if it can change easily and...
Spiritual Awareness Spiritual awareness covers Spiritual Reality, Prayer, Meditation, and Self-Examination, Spiritual Values, Spiritual Virtues, and Spiritual Process. Spiritual Reality God, or Spirit or whatever one may call the Creator of this universe, is mostly beyond human comprehension. Yet if God is infinite, then God is all. Being infinite, God is...
Free Will Free will is the power to exercise control over one’s decisions and actions. The interest of free will in philosophy primarily lies in whether free will exists. While hard determinism denies the existence of free will, other schools such as incompatibilism, soft determinism (or compatibilism), and libertarianism recognize it in some way...
Epicurus Quotes We have collected and put the best Epicurus quotes about the meaning of life from around the world. Enjoy reading these insights and feel free to share this page on your social media to inspire others. Epicurus (341–270 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher and sage who founded a...
Who Is The Messenger Muhammed? This article covers the answer to the question: “Who is the Messenger Muhammed?“ If one were to close one’s eyes and imagine oneself in the world of 1400 years ago, one would find that it was a world completely different from ours. How few and...
What Freedom Means to Me In the philosophy of politics, the idea of freedom comes up often. Most people say they support most types of freedom. Of course, the word freedom has little meaning if we do not have a common definition. In this article, I will explain my definition...