Res Philosophica 90 (4):565-587 (2013)
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The Christian tradition affirms that faith is a virtue. Faith is a multifaceted reality, though, encompassing such diverse aspects as belief, trust, obedience, and more. Given this complexity, it is no surprise that various thinkers emphasize different aspects of faith in accounting for faith’s status as a virtue. In this paper I join Søren Kierkegaard in arguing that faith is a passion, and that faith is a virtue because it disposes the person of faith to proper emotional responses. The paper has three sections. First, I lay the groundwork for understanding faith as a passion by explaining the relationship between passions and emotions. Drawing on the works of Kierkegaard, Merold Westphal, and Robert C. Roberts, I distinguish two senses of passion, and show how these senses are related to each other and to faith. The second section uses the account of faith developed in Concluding Unscientific Postscript to develop the idea that passional faith is a deep, identity-forming attachment to God. Finally, I explicate the idea that passional faith, so understood, functions as an emotion disposition. I do so by expounding part one of Kierkegaard’s Christian Discourses, which explores some of the ways in which faith disposes one away from certain emotions and toward other emotions.
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DOI | 10.11612/resphil.2013.90.4.7 |
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References found in this work BETA
Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions.Martha C. Nussbaum - 2001 - Cambridge University Press.
Emotions: An Essay in Aid of Moral Psychology.Robert C. Roberts - 2003 - Cambridge University Press.
The Therapy of Desire: Theory and Practice in Hellenistic Ethics.Martha Craven Nussbaum - 1994 - Princeton University Press.
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Citations of this work BETA
Turn Your Gaze Upward! Emotions, Concerns, and Regulatory Strategies in Kierkegaard’s Christian Discourses.Paul Carron - 2018 - International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 84 (3):323-343.
Living Within the Sacred Tension: Paradox and Its Significance for Christian Existence in the Thought of Søren Kierkegaard.Nowachek Matthew Thomas - unknown
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