UNIVERSIDADE ESTADUAL DE CAMPINAS Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas GESIEL BORGES DA SILVA An axiomatic approach to theodicy via formal applied systems Uma abordagem axiomática à teodiceia via sistemas formais aplicados Campinas 2020 Gesiel Borges da Silva An axiomatic approach to theodicy via formal applied systems Uma abordagem axiomática à teodiceia via sistemas formais aplicados Dissertação de Mestrado apresentada ao Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas da Universidade Estadual de Campinas como parte dos requisitos para a obtenção do título de Mestre em Filosofia. Master Thesis presented to the Institute of Philosophy and the Humanities of the University of Campinas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Philosophy. Supervisor/Orientador: Prof. Dr. Fábio Maia Bertato Este exemplar corresponde à versão final da Dissertação de Mestrado defendida por Gesiel Borges da Silva e orientada pelo Prof. Dr. Fábio Maia Bertato. Campinas 2020 Ficha catalográfica Universidade Estadual de Campinas Biblioteca do Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas Cecília Maria Jorge Nicolau - CRB 8/3387 Da Silva, Gesiel Borges, 1993- D11a DaAn axiomatic approach to theodicy via formal applied systems / Gesiel Borges da Silva. – Campinas, SP : [s.n.], 2020. DaOrientador: Fabio Maia Bertato. DaDissertação (mestrado) – Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas. Da1. Teodiceia. 2. Bem e mal. 3. Modalidade (Lógica). 4. Deus - Atributos. 5. Filosofia e religião. I. Bertato, Fabio Maia, 1980-. II. Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas. III. Título. Informações para Biblioteca Digital Título em outro idioma: Uma abordagem axiomática à teodiceia via sistemas formais aplicados Palavras-chave em inglês: Theodicy Good and evil Modality (Logic) God - Attributes Philosophy and religion Área de concentração: Filosofia Titulação: Mestre em Filosofia Banca examinadora: Fabio Maia Bertato [Orientador] Marcelo Esteban Coniglio Evandro Luís Gomes Data de defesa: 22-12-2020 Programa de Pós-Graduação: Filosofia Identificação e informações acadêmicas do(a) aluno(a) - ORCID do autor: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4744-615X - Currículo Lattes do autor: http://lattes.cnpq.br/9083590993692789 Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org) UNIVERSIDADE ESTADUAL DE CAMPINAS Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas A Comissão Julgadora dos trabalhos de Defesa de Dissertação de Mestrado, composta pe- los Professores Doutores a seguir descritos, em sessão pública realizada em 22 de dezembro de 2020, considerou o candidato Gesiel Borges da Silva aprovado. Prof. Dr. Fábio Maia Bertato Presidente da Comissão Julgadora Prof. Dr. Marcelo Esteban Coníglio IFCH/UNICAMP Prof. Dr. Evandro Luís Gomes Universidade Estadual de Maringá A Ata de Defesa com as respectivas assinaturas dos membros encontra-se no SIGA/Sistema de Fluxo de Dissertações/Teses e na Secretaria do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Filosofia do Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas. This work is dedicated to Fábio Maia Bertato, mentor, colleague, friend, and brother. The disorders of the mind, continued Demea, though more secret, are not perhaps less dismal and vexatious. Remorse, shame, anguish, rage, disappointment, anxiety, fear, dejection, despair; who has ever passed through life without cruel inroads from these tormentors? How many have scarcely ever felt any better sensations? Labour and poverty, so abhorred by every one, are the certain lot of the far greater number; and those few privileged persons, who enjoy ease and opulence, never reach contentment or true felicity. All the goods of life united would not make a very happy man; but all the ills united would make a wretch indeed; and any one of them almost (and who can be free from every one?) nay often the absence of one good (and who can possess all?) is sufficient to render life ineligible. — David Hume, Dialogues concerning natural religion,X We all believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths that there is a single and simple spiritual being, whom we call God — eternal, incomprehensible, invisible, unchangeable, infinite, almighty; completely wise, just, and good, and the overflowing source of all good. — Guido de Brès, Confessio Belgica, Article 1. Acknowledgements This work would not be actual, in any possible world, without the help, guidance, and support of many persons who I admire, estimate, and love. These two pages are not enough to express my gratitude to you all. I am profoundly grateful to my supervisor, Prof. Fábio Maia Bertato, for believing in my academic potential, for providing me many opportunities, and for the support, guidance, and mentoring, not only in academic matters, but in many other subjects of life. Prof. Itala D’Ottaviano, who was my supervisor in the beginning of this research and has always supported it in a number of ways along the years, has also my sincere gratitude. I would like to thank Prof. Marcelo Coniglio, Prof. Pedro Merlussi, and Prof. Evandro Gomes, for their insightful comments and suggestions, especially during both qualification and final exams of this thesis. Professors Pedro and Ketty Rezende also remarkably contributed to the research during our seminars, providing many relevant insights, and I could not forget to thank you for such. The Centre for Logic, Epistemology, and the History of Science (CLE) of the University of Campinas (UNICAMP) has been a second home to me since 2014. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all of the professors, employees, officers, colleagues and friends, for teaching me and providing an amazing and unique academic environment. I would like to extend my thanks to the professors and officers of the Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences (IFCH - UNICAMP) for the academic support. This research was made possible through the support of grant no. 61108 (“Formal Approaches to Philosophy of Religion and Analytic Theology”) from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this work are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation. Also, the research was partially financed by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), from 03/2018 to 03/2019 (process no. 130681/2018-0). I am thankful for the financial support of both institutions. I am deeply grateful to my family: my parents, Elizete Vieira and Nelito da Silva, who raised me and taught me with wisdom and love; my dear brother Gessé da Silva, my fellow in all adventures; my stepfather Rogério Gomes, for the support, firmness and love through these years; my love Gabriellen Carmo, for being my present and my future, my here and my there; and my stepmother Edna for all the affection. You all always believed in me, and did not spare efforts to support me whenever possible. I thank especially my Christian community, the Comunidade do Estudante Universitário (CEU), for providing me spiritual guidance, support and growth. There I discovered my vocation, but much more important than this, it was there that I learned to be more human than I had ever been. A special thank goes also to my friends and fellows of the Brazilian Association of Christians in Science (ABC²) and of L’Abri Fellowship Brasil, for inspiring me in the pursue for an integrated life and reality, faith and knowledge, mind and heart. I am profoundly thankful to many friends in uncountable ways: Davi Bastos and Samara Andrade, Abner Brito and Letícia Trindade, Marcelo Cabral, Mateus Belinello, Marília Polli, Altamiro (thanks for your pastoral care), Neusa, Simone (in memoriam) and Viviane Menezes, Maira Trentin, João Toniolo, Juliana Baisi, Nicola Salvatore, Priscila Akemi, Rômulo Nascimento, Murilo Lino, Natã Siqueira, Amadeo Galdino, Rafael Mayer, Aline Muzio, Thaisa Bull, Ana Beatriz Paes (whom I also thank for the detailed revision of this thesis), André Matos and Ana María, Felipe Macedo and Quesia Botelho, Thiago and Daniela Costa, Klaus Weiss, Alden Bertoni, Amanda Amaral, Arthur Gonçalves, Ageu and Margarete Lisboa (thanks also for the psychological assistance), Ivailton Santos, Lucas Ribeiro, Guilherme Carneiro, Bia Rezende, Felipe Miguel, Ramon and Priscila da Costa, Julio and Neuma Jesus, Guilherme and Aline Albanez, Guilherme Fontano, Renan de Souza, among many others. Friends are gifts of God, and I am so blessed to have you all in my life. Finally, I thank and glorify my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, my only comfort in life and in death. He has never abandoned me during the toughest days and darkest nights of my life, and I am completely sure that nothing shall be able to separate us from His endless love. Abstract Edward Nieznański developed two logical systems in order to deal with a version of the problem of evil associated with two formulations of religious determinism. The aim of this research was to revisit these systems, providing them with a more appropriate formalization. The new resulting systems, namely, N1 and N2, were reformulated in first-order modal logic; they retain much of their original basic structures, but some additional results were obtained. Furthermore, our research found that an underlying minimal set of axioms is enough to settle the questions proposed. Thus, we developed a minimal system, called N3, that solves the same issues tackled by N1 and N2, but with less assumptions than these systems. All of the systems developed here are proposed as solutions to the logical problem of evil through the refutation of two versions of religious determinism, showing that the attributes of God in Classical Theism, namely, those of omniscience, omnipotence, infallibility, and omnibenevolence, when formalized, are consistent with the existence of evil, providing one more response to this traditional issue. Keywords: Theodicy; problem of evil; modal logic; divine attributes; philosophy of religion. Resumo Edward Nieznański desenvolveu dois sistemas lógicos com o fim de lidar com uma versão do problema do mal associada a duas formulações de determinismo religioso. O objetivo desta pesquisa foi revisitar esses sistemas, proporcionando-lhes uma formalização mais adequada.