Comparative Theology (Dec 2022)
Study of Linda Zagzebski's Theological Approach to Moral Saints
Abstract
Linda Zagzebski is one of the philosophers working on the emotions and motivating dispositions of the saints. By expanding her theory of divine motivation, she tried to fill in an important gap in previous accounts about saintly life and show why thinking of the saints only as moral exemplars is insufficient. She argues that the saints’ connection to God is what makes them morally good. Zagzebski focuses rightly on the emotions of the saints and provides valuable insights into their moral psychology. In the present study, we first discuss the etymology of the word "saint" and examine its historical background in Christian culture, and then, through the explanation of Zagszebski's important theories of Exemplarism and Divine Motivation, we criticize her most important arguments about the saintly life. Although her attractive viewpoint makes some important advances toward understanding and justifying moral saintliness, it remains deficient insofar as she cannot accurately clarify the limits of imitating saints and the nature of their connection to God. Also, she neglects the role of religious institutions, communities, and spiritual disciplines in helping the saints come to share God’s motives; and she either does not give due attention to the specific virtues and gifts the saints- especially in non-Christian cultures- possess. So, her account is not comprehensive enough in this regard. IntroductionLinda Zagzebski, a contemporary moral philosopher and theoretician of Moral Exemplarism, in analyzing and explaining the distinction of different moral theories, points to three concepts of goodness, virtue, and right action. She believes that an effective moral theory should motivate people to live morally and drive them to moral excellence. Zagzebski defends a virtue-based approach to explain a compelling and attractive moral theory that can drive people to goodness without obligation. However, her considered virtue is not a mere cognitive and mental concept. Rather, it is closely related to emotional motivation, which arises from reference to imitable ideals called moral saints. In fact, the saints are the starting point of her exemplarism account of virtue ethics. Zagzebski considers the goodness of saints because they share divine motives with others. In this study, we first explore the historical roots and usage of the word saint, and then, while briefly explaining the function of Zagszebski's theory of moral exemplarism, we discuss the divine motivation of saints and the components of saintly life from her point of view. Finally, we criticize the sufficiency of these arguments. Materials and MethodsWe tried to provide a correct understanding of the word "saint" by reviewing numerous articles and entries in religious encyclopedias. Also, we reviewed the interesting essays which have been written about the acceptance, application, or rejection of the saintly lifestyle in western philosophical literature and theology. We examined Linda Zagzebski's moral and theological views and her exemplarism approach, which have good references to the role models of saints, the discussion of God's imitation, and the doctrine of the incarnation of Christ as a model of moral virtues. In sum, the present research is a new and distinctive work in terms of applying and analyzing the two theories of Zegzebski's exemplarism and divine motivation, drawing the face of the moral saints considered by her and criticizing this view. Research FindingsBy placing God as the source of all valuable attributes, Zagzebski describes the similarities of the saints in their moral and religious dimensions and justifies their differences based on their life narratives, emotional reactions in different situations, and their motivations in response to those situations. Her view affirms the existence of certain characteristics in saints which are best known as strong emotional dispositions; Desires that are somehow related to their relationship with God. Zagzebski's recent explanation of saints is important because she rightly tries to connect their religious and moral aspects. Focusing properly on the emotions of the saints, she provides valuable insights into their motivations for performing supererogation and highly humanitarian behaviors, the good cause of their emotions, and why they should be imitated. In short, Zagzebski’s final view on saints can be summarized in three main components:a) Being moral and religious ideal: Zagszebski's explanation of saintliness, with the right emphasis on the relationship of saints with God and their moral ideal and trying to understand the nature of the relationship between these two aspects, is outstanding among the philosophical descriptions of saints. Zagzebski considers the moral goodness of the saints because of their imitation of Christ and then developing motives like his. So, the sacrifice and supererogatory actions of the saints can be justified from the point of view of religious imitation.b) Having developed emotions: Saints are known for communicating from the heart with people, loving real goodness, and not being fascinated by the external appearance of people, looking at phenomena as they really are, and providing valuable and efficient advice even to strangers, and all these abilities are due to their developed emotions.c) Imitability: According to Zagzebski, we should imitate the emotions, motivations, and virtues of the saints and perform actions that produce the same results that the saints are motivated to achieve. She introduces the saints as role models in life, who appear good in almost any situation, and referring to their life narrations inspires admiration for all of us. Discussion of Results and ConclusionIn general, it is possible to evaluate Zagszebs’s effort in explaining her moral theory in the direction of emphasizing the lives of saints as effective and captivating moral models. Using the theory of direct reference, she describes the process of imitating virtues from virtuous people and further points out the common characteristics of moral saints. By claiming to discover the good nature of moral models, Zagzebski tries to reduce the main foundations of moral theories, including attention to the character of the agent in virtue ethics and attention to actions and consequences in deontological and utilitarian ethics, to the concept of emotions. From her point of view, the value of virtue depends on its connection with emotions that are really good.By referring all moral values to God as the source of goodness, she aims to get rid of the charge of relativism regarding her considered moral models to the extent that she considers the condition of being a saint to be shared by others in divine motives and virtues, as embodied in her character, Jesus Christ. In summing up her view on saints, we find these people as moral and religious ideals, with developed emotions and worthy of imitation. But with all the positive points in Zagsbeski’s account, there are also criticisms: The inability to discover the nature of the relationship of saints with God, the uncertainty of the extent of the devotion to saints, not comprehensive in drawing out the characteristics of saintly life, generalizing the examples of Christian culture to other cultures and religions, ignoring the role of religious communities and spiritual teachings in the development of moral ideals. In any case, it seems that part of the doubts and criticisms about Zagzebski’s view is due to the newness of her theory, which could become clear with more research.
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