dualism
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What is dualism in religion?
In religion, dualism is the belief in two supreme, opposed powers that caused the world to exist. Dualism has played an important role in the history of religion and thought.
There are different types of dualism, including absolute and relative. In absolute dualism, the two principles have existed from eternity. In relative dualism, one principle is derived from the other.
Other distinctions include dialectical and eschatological dualism. Dialectical dualism involves a tension of two opposed principles and implies a cyclical view of history. Eschatological dualism is concerned with the ultimate destiny of humanity and conceives of a final resolution in which evil is eliminated at the end of a linear history.
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What are the two main forces or principles in religious dualism?
Religious dualism centers on the existence of two supreme, opposing forces, often expressed as good versus evil. In Zoroastrianism, this concept is characterized by a struggle between a good force, personified as the god Ormazd, and an evil force, represented by the demonic Ahriman. This dualism posits that these forces contend for dominance, influencing human destiny and the fate of the universe. Humanity, in this view, must align itself with either side in this cosmic battle.
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Can you name a religion that teaches dualism?
Dualism in religion is the belief that reality consists of two basic, opposed, irreducible principles that account for all that exists.
Zoroastrianism is an example of a religion that embodies dualism. In Zoroastrianism, there is a constant struggle between a good and an evil force. The Beneficent Spirit (Spenta Mainyu) and the Destructive Spirit (Angra Mainyu, or Ahriman) are different and irreducible principles. Angra Mainyu's nature is expressed as "the Lie," which embodies itself as greed, wrath, and envy. Ahura Mazda is the Supreme Being represented as a deity of goodness and light in Zoroastrianism. Though these spirits are twin brothers, this implies only that the two spirits are symmetrical.
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How does dualism explain the existence of good and evil?
In religion, dualism is the belief that reality consists of two basic, opposed, and irreducible principles that account for all that exists.
Whenever the problem of the origin of evil is solved by conceiving the real existence of another principle separate from the prime principle of the world, or by affirming an inner ambivalence, limited sovereignty, or inadequacy of the prime principle or of divine beings, a dualism then emerges.
Zoroastrianism exemplifies dualism with its concept of a good force (Ormazd) and an evil force (Ahriman) struggling for mastery in the universe, influencing human destiny. This struggle addresses the problem of theodicy, justifying the existence of a divinity despite the presence of evil.
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How does dualism differ from monotheism and polytheism?
Dualism in religion is the belief that reality consists of two basic, opposed principles. In contrast, monotheism is the belief in one God, a concept shared by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Polytheism is the belief in many gods and characterizes virtually all religions other than those with a monotheistic tradition. Dualism differs from both by positing two fundamental forces, while monotheism asserts one God, and polytheism acknowledges multiple deities.
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How has religious dualism influenced different cultures and beliefs?
Religious dualism, the belief in two supreme, opposed powers, has significantly influenced various cultures and beliefs, contrasting with monism, monotheism, and polytheism. Dualism can be absolute, with both principles existing eternally, or relative, where one principle derives from the other.
Zoroastrianism exemplifies Iranian dualism, featuring the Beneficent Spirit (Spenta Mainyu) and the Destructive Spirit (Angra Mainyu), distinct and irreducible principles that chose life and nonlife, respectively. Similarly, Gnosticism, a Hellenistic religious movement, views matter as evil and spirit as good, influencing early Christianity. In Greek philosophy, Plato's dualism emphasizes the Idea (form) and the material receptacle, conditioning the world and necessitating the descent of souls into bodies.
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dualism, in religion, the doctrine that the world (or reality) consists of two basic, opposed, and irreducible principles that account for all that exists. It has played an important role in the history of thought and of religion.
Nature and significance
In religion, dualism means the belief in two supreme opposed powers or gods, or sets of divine or demonic beings, that caused the world to exist. It may conveniently be contrasted with monism, which sees the world as consisting of one principle such as mind (spirit) or matter; with monotheism; or with various pluralisms and polytheisms, which see a multiplicity of principles or powers at work. As is indicated below, however, the situation is not always clear and simple, a matter of one or two or many, for there are monotheistic, monistic, and polytheistic religions with dualistic aspects.
Various distinctions may be discerned in the types of dualism in general. In the first place, dualism may be either absolute or relative. In a radical or absolute dualism, the two principles are held to exist from eternity; for example, in the Iranian dualisms, Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism, both the bright and beneficent and the sinister and destructive principles are from eternity.
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In a mitigated or relative dualism, one of the two principles may be derived from, or presuppose, the other as a basis; for example, the Bogomils, a medieval heretical Christian group, held that the Devil is a fallen angel who came from God and was the creator of the human body, into which he managed by trickery to have God infuse a soul. Here the Devil is a subordinate being and not coeternal with God, the absolute eternal being. This, then, is clearly a qualified, not a radical, dualism. Both radical and mitigated types of dualism are found among different groups of the late medieval Cathari, a Christian heretical movement closely related to the Bogomils.
Another and perhaps more important distinction is that between dialectical and eschatological dualism. Dialectical dualism involves an eternal dialectic, or tension, of two opposed principles, such as, in Western culture, the One and the many, or Idea and matter (or space, called by Plato āthe receptacleā), and, in Indian culture, maya (the illusory world of sense experience and multiplicity) and atman-brahman (the essential identity of self and ultimate reality). Dialectical dualism ordinarily implies a cyclical, or eternally repetitive, view of history. Eschatological dualismāi.e., a dualism concerned with the ultimate destiny of humanity and the world, how things will be in the ālastā timesāon the other hand, conceives of a final resolution of the present dualistic state of things, in which evil will be eliminated at the end of a linear history constituted of a series of unrepeatable events instead of a cyclical, repetitive one. The ancient Iranian religions, Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism, and gnosticismāa religio-philosophical movement influential in the Hellenistic worldāprovide examples of eschatological dualism. A type of thought, such as Platonism, that insists on a profound harmony in the cosmos, is thus more radically dualistic, because of its irreducibly dialectical character, than Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism, with their emphasis on the cosmic struggle between two antithetical principles (good and evil). Midway between these extremes is gnostic dualism, which has an ontology (or theory of being) of an Orphic-Platonic type (see below Among ancient civilizations and peoples) but which also affirms the final disappearance and annihilation of evil with the eventual destruction of the material worldāand thus comprises both dialectical and eschatological dualism.
In philosophy, dualism is often identified with the doctrine of transcendenceāthat there is a separate realm or being above and beyond the worldāas opposed to monism, which holds that the ultimate principle is inside the world (immanent). In the disciplines concerned with the study of religions, however, religious dualism refers not to the distinction or separation of God and the world but to the doctrine of two basic principles, a doctrine that, moreover, may easily be compatible with a form of monism (e.g., Orphism or the Advaita school of Vedanta) that makes the opposition between the One and the many absolute and sees in multiplicity merely a fragmentation (or illusory obliteration) of the One.