Dictionary of Philosophy of Religion

31

BERDYAEV, NICOLAI ALEXANDROVICH

beliefs on the grounds that if you believe
something to be the case, it appears to
you to be the case. If something appears
to you to be the case, then you have evi-
dence that it is the case. The latter rests
on a principle that appearances can
themselves count as evidence. Some theo-
logians disagree and claim that one can
have beliefs even in the face of strong
counter-evidence.

BELIEF, ETHICS OF. Laws or princi-
ples of evidence received the greatest
attention in early modern philosophy
(Descartes and Locke) but Plato and Aris-
totle also had views on when beliefs are or
are not justified. In the nineteenth cen-
tury William Clifford advanced a strin-
gent ethics of belief, arguing that it is
always wrong to hold a belief on the basis
of insufficient evidence. His views have
been critiqued because of his lack of a
clear criterion for distinguishing suffi-
cient from insufficient evidence. Philo-
sophers like Williams James have
questioned whether Clifford had suffi-
cient evidence for his criterion of suffi-
cient evidence.

BELIEF-IN. Some philosophers claim
that belief in something is different from
belief that something is the case. Inspired
by Wittgenstein, the American philoso-
pher Norman Malcolm once held that he
could believe in God but not that God
exists.

BENEVOLENCE. From the Latin bene +

volens (“well wishing”), benevolence

involves action that benefits others and

is the opposite of acting in narrow self-

interest. It is central to the ethics of

Jonathan Edwards, David Hume, and

Henry Sidgwick, among others.

BENTHAM, JEREMY (1748–1832).

Bentham was a prominent exponent of

hedonistic utilitarianism. He held that

an act is right if there is no other act avail-

able that will produce greater happiness.

Bentham also argued for substantial

social reform and, being an avowed athe-

ist, he argued against the historical reli-

ability of the New Testament. He observed

that he never lost his religious faith as he

never had such faith to lose. Bentham is

the author of A Fragment on Government

(1776), Principles of Morals and Legisla-

tion (1789), An Introduction to the Princi-

ples of Morals and Legislation (written

1780, published 1789), Handbook of Polit-

ical Fallacies (1824), Rationale of Judicial

Evidence (1827), Outline of a New System

of Logic (1827), and Deontology or the

Science of Morality (1834).

BERDYAEV, NICOLAI ALEXAN-

DROVICH (1874–1948). A Russian,

Christian philosopher who stressed the

freedom and creativity of God and

humanity. He argued that evil stems

from the human misuse of freedom and

that human fulfillment is to be found in