Dictionary of Philosophy of Religion

SUICIDE

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see Jesus Christ as having a more vital
cosmic role than theosophy allowed. He
called his more Christ-centered spiritual-
ity “anthroposophy.” Steiner promoted the
arts as well as philosophy, and his work
inspired the Woldorff school movement.

STOICISM. A school of philosophy
founded in the late second century BCE
in Athens by Zeno of Citium. The name
“Stoic” comes from the Greek for “porch,”
as that names the area in which they
met. Stoicism became a broad movement,
defined by adherents’ allegiance to logos
or reason, the subordination of passion to
reason, their conviction in a single, good
God or divine being, and natural law.
It is from Stoic sources that we derive
the vision of the whole world as (ideally)
constituting a singe polis or city (hence:
cosmopolitanism). Tillich thought that
Stoicism was a major competing alterna-
tive to Christianity. In fact, many Chris-
tians have had strong Stoical tendencies,
as may be seen in the work of Boethius
or even Richard Swinburne. Some of
Swinburne’s defense of the goodness of
God has roots in Stoic arguments that the
good of a natural world had to come with
some liabilities.

SUÁREZ, FRANCISCO (1548–1617).
A Spanish philosopher who, like Molina,
developed a middle-knowledge account
of God’s prescience. His works include
Disputationes Metaphysicae (1597) and
De legibus, ac Deo legislatore (1612).

SUB SPECIE AETERNITATIS. Latin,

meaning “under the aspect of eternity.”

Phrase used by Spinoza in his Ethics to

refer to the highest form of knowledge.

As a term, it can also apply to Boethius’

project of coming to understand worldly,

temporal goods and fate from the stand-

point of the eternal God.

SUBJECT / SUBJECTIVITY. “Subject”

usually refers to persons and “subjectiv-

ity” usually refers to the emotions, feel-

ings, and psychological states of persons.

Sometimes a judgment may be said to be

subjective when it reflects the personal

preferences of a subject and not a matter

of impartial reflection.

SUBLIME. Early modern European phi-

losophers used the term in contrast to the

beautiful; the sublime involves a feeling

of awe, dread, possibly even terror, though

from a position of safety.

SUI GENERIS. A thing or event is sui

generis when it is a unique kind of thing.

According to many theologians, God is

sui generis.

SUICIDE. Literally means self-killing.

For some philosophers, suicide is a form

of self-murder; the mere fact that the

killer and the one killed are the same

person does not excuse the murder.