Journal of the Philosophy and Religion Society of Thailand

Thefts of Relics in Italy: From Late Antiquity to the Central Middle Ages, 300–1150

Benjamin Ivry — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0700

Abstract

This historical account by Assistant Professor Marco Papasidero establishes that over several centuries, it was accepted practice in Catholicism to steal relics (furta sacra in Latin) of the saints from their owners and relocate them, supposedly as a sign of piety but often to gain prestige and income. Examining these thefts in Italy from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages reveals a systematic, rather than occasional, approach to not merely justifying, but positively exalting such activity. The author analyzes such larceny from sociocultural and anthropological perspectives, contextualizing their divine justification by the perpetrators and the Church.

The Meaning of Life After Savagery: Gaza/Palestine as Decolonial Categorical Imperative

Hadje Sadje — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0700

ABSTRACT

This paper engages with Hamid Dabashi’s After Savagery: Gaza, Genocide, and the Illusion of Western Civilization (2025) to argue that the ongoing genocide in Gaza constitutes an epistemic and moral rupture. For Dabashi, this requires a fundamental decolonial reorientation of philosophy and politics. It posits that Gaza, as the focal point of contemporary colonial violence, exposes the “metaphysics of barbarism” that underlies Western civilization’s universalist claims (Dabashi, 2025). Moving beyond critique, the essay explores how Dabashi reframes Palestine as an epistemic world and site for a liberatory poetics. Its core contention is that Gaza generates a new categorical imperative: an absolute obligation to think, witness, and act from the perspective of the most brutalized (Dabashi, 2005). This imperative calls for decolonizing thought, building planetary solidarity, and freeing memory, paving the way for a post-Western consciousness. The meaning of life after savagery, therefore, is to be rebuilt from this imperative, with Gaza as its non-negotiable starting point.

Aristotle’s Concept of Nicomachean Ethics: A Socio-Cultural Analysis of Friendship in Society

Wilson Miasco — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0700

This study investigates the critical role of friendship as portrayed in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, positing it as a fundamental component of individual virtue and communal well-being. Utilizing a socio-cultural framework, the research delves into Aristotle’s typology of friendship, which delineates three categories: friendships of utility, pleasure, and virtue. Each category's purposes and moral underpinnings are meticulously analyzed, revealing that the highest form of friendship is anchored in mutual goodness and moral character that serves as a normative benchmark for personal integrity. For Aristotle, while friendship is deeply personal, it also holds important political significance, serving as a key force that nurtures trust and common goals in the community.

In the midst of rising individualism, social disconnection, and moral uncertainty, this study aims to reframe friendship as a lasting foundation for societal advancement. It explores the role of virtuous friendships in building resilient support systems that reinforce communal bonds and promote collective harmony. The research delves into the transformative impact of such friendships in cultivating empathy, collaboration, and a deep sense of belonging. It also considers how these meaningful relationships can help ease social tensions and encourage a culture rooted in mutual respect and understanding. The study argues that virtuous friendship is not only vital to living a purposeful and enriched life but also essential to the formation of a just and flourishing society. By highlighting the relevance of friendship in both individual and civic life, this analysis deepens our understanding of social ethics, active citizenship, and the lasting importance of Aristotle’s philosophy.

Mortality as Jest:

Alvin Servaña — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0700

This treatise explores the paradoxical nature of human mortality through the lens of existential philosophy, grounded in poetic meditation and lived experience. Drawing from the immediacy of near-death encounters and the quotidian reality of death's omnipresence, it argues that mortality functions as both cosmic jest and profound truth, inviting an embrace of contradiction rather than a search for resolution. By reframing death as a transformative process rather than a terminal event, the work shows that mortality’s “joke” lies not in falsity but in its capacity to simultaneously reveal and conceal existential truths. Synthesising existential dread, satirical awareness, and contemplative acceptance, the meditation proposes a philosophy that honours terror and comedy alike, suggesting authentic response lies neither in denial nor morbid fascination but in a meditative wonder that holds multiple truths in productive tension. Methodologically, the treatise integrates phenomenological analysis, interdisciplinary empirical findings, and poetic exegesis to bridge abstract theory and embodied experience. It examines how proximity to death sharpens perception, dissolves hierarchies, and democratises being by exposing shared vulnerability across species and social strata. The argument advances implications for ethics, aesthetics, and end-of-life practice, proposing that recognising death’s transformative role can foster creative living, compassionate care, and public philosophy that engages communities. Ultimately, the paper contends that mortality’s paradoxical character is a source of wisdom: a destabilising jest that, when attended to with humility and curiosity, deepens meaning and cultivates a more generous, attentive way of living. It invites readers to live more fully in each fragile present moment now.

Perfecting Judgment or Releasing It: Two Paths to Transcendence in Stoic and Daoist Philosophy

Imi P. Y. Lo — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0700

Ancient philosophical traditions agree that human beings possess divine potential, yet they diverge fundamentally on how such transcendence is realized. This paper argues that the contrast between Stoic and Daoist accounts of meaningful existence reflects deeper cultural-philosophical assumptions about whether wisdom requires perfecting discriminating judgment or dissolving it entirely.

For the Stoic thinker Epictetus, humans are "offshoots of God" whose divine nature manifests through rational capacity. The meaningful life consists in perfecting prohairesis, a term that literally means "to choose one thing before another." Through years of examining impressions and ranking them hierarchically according to rational criteria, practitioners achieve transcendence by becoming increasingly skilled at making correct distinctions, separating true impressions from false ones, good from bad, what lies within our control from what does not. The sage embodies perfected discrimination.

For Zhuangzi, humans possess innate attunement to Dao that becomes obscured through discriminating judgment itself. The meaningful life consists in suspending the compulsive imposition of binary categories—this versus that, right versus wrong, useful versus useless—that fragment continuous reality. Transcendence is achieved not by refining discrimination but by dissolving the need to discriminate, enabling spontaneous responsiveness that flows with natural patterns without conceptual mediation. The sage embodies impartial receptivity.

The paper demonstrates that this divergence reflects distinct cultural-philosophical orientations. Greek philosophical method, rooted in Socratic dialectic and Aristotelian categorization, treats language as capable of capturing stable universal truths through precise definition. Wisdom emerges through argumentative refinement and systematic judgment. Chinese philosophical method, emphasizing practical knowing over theoretical reasoning, treats fixed principles as inadequate for navigating particular circumstances. Wisdom emerges through embodied responsiveness below linguistic levels.

The analysis reveals that disagreement about the meaningful life extends beyond surface-level differences in practice to fundamental assumptions about whether human flourishing requires making better distinctions or transcending distinction-making itself. Contemporary practitioners seeking spiritual cultivation must consider whether wisdom lies in perfecting judgment or releasing its grip—a choice reflecting not merely personal preference but deeper commitments about language, reason, and truth's accessibility.

The Impact of Using AI Chatbots on Teenagers

Weerawut Rainmanee — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0700

AI has become an integral part of the children’ lives. It is currently utilized in many fields, including education, medicine, and business. One of the ethical concerns of using AI is how its use impacts children’s self-development and whether it is ethical to allow children to use it. To answer these questions, one must examine the purpose of using AI, the reasoning behind it, and the evidence that shows its positive and negative impacts. In this paper, I will argue that even current research offers a divergent view of AI, presenting a mix of positive and negative outcomes rather than a consensus, using it in education nevertheless alters the learning environment. This shift impacts children’s self-development since their cognitive system is shaped by AI environments.

The Metaphysics of Mercy: Arthur Schopenhauer’s Transposition of Will, Law, and Grace as the Ontological Floor for Modern Theology and Science

Nicos Kaloyirou — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0700

This article argues that Arthur Schopenhauer's The World as Will and Representation provides a definitive "metaphysical translation" of the Christian narrative, identifying the Will as the "Original Sin" of existence and the Law as the principium individuationis—the spatiotemporal net of causality that traps the individual. Within this framework, Grace is reinterpreted as the spontaneous, unearned Denial of the Will. The article traces how Heidegger's early concept of "facticity" is rooted in Luther's theologia crucis, yet a Schopenhauerian reading exposes Heideggerian "thrownness" (Geworfenheit) as remaining wholly within the World as Representation—a description of bondage, not liberation. By further exposing "Being-towards-death" as a sophisticated affirmation of the Will—a "Will to Will"—the article positions Kierkegaard's "leap" and Barth's "revelation" as necessary ontological ruptures. The study engages Charles Taylor's A Secular Age, showing how his genealogy of Western disenchantment both corroborates and complicates Schopenhauer's framework: where Taylor reads Luther's sanctification of ordinary life as the seed of secular modernity, Schopenhauer reveals its metaphysical cost. Schopenhauer's identification of the Will as a blind universal force also prefigures convergences with modern science—from thermodynamic energy conservation to evolutionary drives—suggesting that his metaphysics bridges philosophy, spirituality, and empirical inquiry. The article culminates in Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who uses Schopenhauer's honest pessimism to ground his "Costly Grace," moving from solitary "Nothingness" to communal, worldly responsibility in the Sanctorum Communio.

Spiritual Relativism and the Crisis of Meaning among Filipino Youth

Miguel Baluyut — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0700

This study examines how Filipino youth navigate the collapse of absolute truth in a plural and digital world. Drawing on phenomenology and hermeneutic philosophy, it interprets spiritual relativism not as disbelief but as a reflective form of meaning-making amid competing truth-claims. Through interviews with twenty-five youth of diverse faiths, the study found that truth is reinterpreted as contextual, digital pluralism expands epistemic horizons, and religious commitment persists as existential belonging. Interpreting these insights through Nietzsche, Foucault, Gadamer, and MacIntyre, the paper argues that Filipino youth embody a hermeneutic spirituality where faith becomes participation in meaning rather than possession of truth. The study contributes to the philosophy of religion by proposing ‘context-sensitive rationality’ as a postmetaphysical yet coherent form of belief.

The Introduction to the Special Issue: Philosophy, Spirituality, and the Meaning of Life

Soraj Hongladarom, Jeremiah Joven Joaquin, Hazel T. Biana — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0700

The idea for this special issue originated from the Global Philosophy of Religion Project 2 (GPR-2) conference held in Manila from December 1 to 3, 2025, at which the editorial team served as both speakers and organizers at this event, which was facilitated by the Birmingham Centre for Philosophy of Religion through the John Templeton Foundation.

Aiming to integrate diverse perspectives into enduring questions about spiritual existence, the Manila leg of the conference specifically focused on addressing modern dilemmas while exploring the essence of a meaningful life and the characteristics of spiritual reality. Expanding upon these inquiries, the contributions in this special issue offer diverse philosophical, cultural, and contemporary lenses on the human condition. They challenge constructions of purpose, mortality, technology, and connections in an increasingly complex world.

The first article, “The Meaning of Life After Savagery: Gaza/Palestine as a Decolonial Categorical Imperative,” by Hadje Cresencio Sadje, engages with Hamid Dabashi’s book, After Savagery: Gaza, Genocide, and the Illusion of Western Civilization (2025). Sadje argues that the ongoing genocide in Gaza represents an epistemic and moral rupture. He advocates for decolonizing thought, fostering planetary solidarity, and liberating memory, thereby paving the way for a post-Western consciousness. Thus, the meaning of life after savagery should be reconstructed from this imperative, with Gaza as its essential starting point.

In the second article by Wilson Miasco, “Aristotle’s Concept of Nicomachean Ethics: A Socio-Cultural Analysis of Friendship in Society,” he explores the role of friendship within Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. He argues that friendship serves not only as a measure of individual integrity but also as a significant political force. It reinforces communal bonds and fosters collective harmony, which are essential for a thriving society. Thus, friendships bring meaning and purpose to our lives through empathy, collaboration, and a sense of belonging.

Alvin Servaña’s article, “Mortality as Jest: A Philosophical Meditation on Death’s Paradoxical Nature as a Democratizing Power,” tackles ancient existential questions, such as what it means to exist knowing that existence will ultimately end, how we can live authentically in the face of inevitable termination, and why the awareness of death can both paralyze and liberate us. Servaña suggests that mortality functions as a kind of cosmic joke, not in a way that renders life false or meaningless, but similarly to how jokes subvert expectations, revealing hidden truths through unexpected juxtapositions and prompting us to laugh even when we would rather cry.

In the essay “Perfecting Judgment or Releasing It: Two Paths to Transcendence in Stoic Philosophy and Zhuangzi's Daoist Account,” Imi P. Y. Lo explores two fundamental questions: What makes human life meaningful, and how can an individual transcend ordinary existence to realize the highest capacities of human nature? By examining the philosophies of Zhuangzi and Epictetus, Lo addresses these timeless questions, demonstrating that while their views on a meaningful life may seem to differ, both approaches ultimately contribute to human flourishing.

“The Impact of Using AI Chatbots on Teenagers,” written by Weerawut Rainmanee, examines the role of AI chatbots in education and their growing adoption among teenagers. Rainmanee argues that AI influences self-development in various aspects of their lives. As a result, the new generation may experience a fully integrated life cycle with AI. This integration is shaping their perspective of the world.

Nicos Kaloyirou’s “The Metaphysics of Mercy: Arthur Schopenhauer’s Transposition of Will, Law, and Grace as the Ontological Floor for Modern Theology and Science” interprets the central message of Arthur Schopenhauer’s The World as Will and Representation and argues that the work is a kind of translation of the Christian narrative, where the Will is seen to be the “Original Sin” and the Law as the principle whereby individuals are identified. In his interpretation, Grace becomes the means for one to escape the Will. Thus, Kaloyirou provides an interesting link between metaphysics and spirituality.

Next paper in the issue is “Spiritual Relativism and Reflexive Meaning-Making among Filipino Youth” by Miguel Baluyut. Employing the technique of interviewing, Baluyut found that for the youths of the Philippines, their horizons are defined and broadened by the digital media, and truth is understood to be contextual. The author also found that rather than being purely materialistic, Filipino youth are spiritual in the hermeneutic sense, “where faith becomes participation in meaning rather than possession of truth.” The paper then affords us a glimpse into the lifeworld of today’s youth, whose lives are saturated with the digital media, yet remain dynamically faithful.

This collection encourages readers to engage in cross-cultural discussions about living meaningfully in today’s world. We hope that this compilation not only enhances academic discourse but also serves as a helpful guide for addressing the fundamental questions of modern life.

Soraj Hongladarom

Bangkok, Thailand

Jeremiah Joven Joaquin

Hazel T. Biana

Manila, Philippines