DOUBT
70utilitarian use of the principle, especially
in light of the fourth condition.
A controversial use of the principle
would allow a Roman Catholic physician
to terminate a pregnancy but only indi-
rectly and if it was an essential, necessary
consequence of saving the mother’s life.
Under such conditions, the intent must
be to save the mother and not to perform
an abortion, viz. A strict Roman Catholic
cannot save the mother by means of the
abortion, but thus allows (without requir-
ing) action that may terminate pregnancy
under highly stringent (and increasingly
rare) conditions.
DOUBT. The belief in the improbability
of a proposition or the lack of belief
about the certainty of a proposition. One
doubts a proposition to the extent that
one either believes the proposition is false
or implausible. Doubt may be compatible
with belief so long as the belief is not
completely implausible. Given that when
a person believes X to be true, it appears
to the person that X is true, it seems
impossible for a person to believe X if
there is incontrovertible evidence known
to the person that X is false (for X would
then appear not to be true). Even so, evi-
dence and belief can function on multiple
levels. A belief that X may endure despite
there being both evidence known for
and against its truth. Doubt may also
come into play in contexts that are not
confined to propositional beliefs as when
one doubts a person’s integrity or ethical
trustworthiness. See also CERTAINTY
AND DOUBT.DUALISM. Today, the term either refers
to substance dualism (the soul or mind
or person is distinct from her body) or
property dualism (being conscious or
being mental is distinct from being physi-
cal). In contemporary theology, the term
is almost invariably treated as a term of
disapprobation as it is linked to a value
theory that denigrates the body. There is
no such entailment, however, from the
thesis that the mental or mind and the
physical or body are distinct realities to
any negative valuation of the body per se.
Classical defenders of dualism include
Plato, Augustine, and Descartes. Modern
dualists include Mark Baker, Stewart
Goetz, William Hasker, Howard Robinson,
Daniel N. Robinson, Richard Swinburne,
and Peter Unger.DUNS SCOTUS, JOHN (c. 1266–1308).
A Scottish Franciscan philosopher-
theologian. He was ordained to the priest-
hood in 1291, studied theology at Oxford,
and later lectured in Paris. After being
temporarily banned from France in 1303
for siding with the Pope in a dispute with
King, Phillip the Fair of France, Duns
Scotus was allowed back into the country.
Returning to Paris, he then took up the
position of Franciscan regent master in
theology. In 1307, Duns Scotus was trans-
ferred to Cologne where he died in 1308.