Evil and the Quantum Multiverse.
Problems in moral philosophy and philosophy of religion can take on new forms in light of contemporary physical theories. Here we discuss how the problem of evil is transformed by the Everettian 'Many-Worlds' theory of quantum mechanics. We first present an Everettian version of the problem and cont...
| Publicado en: | Australasian Journal of Philosophy Vol. 104; no. 2; pp. 536 - 557 |
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| Autores principales: | , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
Jun2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=195834758&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 195834758 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00048402 BHK jtl: Australasian Journal of Philosophy issn: 00048402 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jun2026 vid: 104 iid: 2 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 195834758 10.1080/00048402.2025.2520529 ppf: 536 ppct: 21 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 828KB tig: atl: Evil and the Quantum Multiverse. aug: au: Chen, Eddy Keming Rubio, Daniel affil: University of California, San Diego Toronto Metropolitan University su: Multiverse theory Bohmian mechanics Philosophy of religion Christian philosophy Ethics Theodicy sug: subj: Multiverse theory Bohmian mechanics Philosophy of religion Christian philosophy Ethics Theodicy keyword: absolute prohibitions decision theory many-worlds interpretation problem of evil quantum mechanics spontaneous collapse theories value theory ab: Problems in moral philosophy and philosophy of religion can take on new forms in light of contemporary physical theories. Here we discuss how the problem of evil is transformed by the Everettian 'Many-Worlds' theory of quantum mechanics. We first present an Everettian version of the problem and contrast it to the problem in single-universe physical theories such as Newtonian mechanics and Bohmian mechanics. We argue that, pace Turner and Zimmerman, the Everettian problem of evil is no more extreme than the Bohmian one. The existence and multiplicity of (morally) terrible branches in the Everettian multiverse in contrast to the mere possibility of them in the Bohmian universe does not entail there is 'more evil' in the former than in the latter. Low probability in the Bohmian case and low branch weight in the Everettian case should modulate how we respond to them in exactly the same way. We suggest that the same applies to the divine decision of creating an Everettian multiverse. For an empirically adequate Everettian quantum mechanics that justifies the Born rule, there is no special problem of evil. In order for there to be a special Everettian problem of evil, the Everettian interpretation must already have been exposed to decisive refutation. In the process, we hope to show how attention to the details of physical and metaphysical theories can and should impact the way we think about problems in moral philosophy and philosophy of religion. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Australasian Journal of Philosophy is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Australasian Journal of Philosophy holder: Taylor & Francis Ltd dt: @attributes: year: 2026 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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