The “problem of evil” is one among many staple topics of inquiry in “western,” Euro-/Christo-centric philosophy of religion. “Evil,” however, is arguably not a stable category for cross-cultural philosophizing about religion. From this observation, this panel offers to explore the extent in which a “global-critical philosophy of religion” might displace the problem of evil with that of pollution/contamination. This panel examines the viability of the alternative category pollution/contamination with three papers that consider analogue concepts and “problems” in the Diné (Navajo), the Shintō and the Hindu traditions, drawing on them to reflect critically on the traditional problem of evil. These papers individually represent neglected religio-philosophies and collectively represent diverse religio-philosophies.
The Diné concept of contamination provides an alternative way to think about the categories of “evil” and “pollution.” Building on the dynamic and fluid character of Diné cosmology and the synecdochic and transitive nature of Diné ontology, this paper explores two forms of contamination that are the focus of Enemyway and Evilway ceremonialism. The first derives from contact with death, the dead, and their property within the Diné community. The second arises from foreign or non-Diné sources, particularly those that conflict with traditional Diné lifeways.
The paper begins with a discussion of Diné cosmogony and introduces the concepts of “pairing” and the oppositional pairing of *hózhó* and *hóchxo*, often glossed as harmony and disharmony respectively. It then moves to an examination of Diné conceptualization of personhood. Finally, it relates the above discussion to contamination and the remedial ceremonies designed to negate the two types of contamination introduced above.
Is the differentiation between evil and good obvious? This paper argues that the biased view of a created dichotomy between evil and good is not an easy solution to differentiate evil from good. No single bases can judge what is good or evil.
In Shintoism, there is no inherent evil, but there are equally distributed chances for everyone to become evil or good. Shintoism believes that object matters have inherent spirits (tukumogami) and are inherently neutral.
Shintoism avoids contamination and pollution since it is believed to call and create space for evil to reside. In short, the representation of internal purity is realised through the purity and cleanliness of the external. This paper examines the act of cleaning as purifying the evil that resonates with impurity.
In this paper I will examine a Hindu perspective on karmic pollution expressed in the Nyaya concept of "adrsta" or the unseen force. This force, which combines both merits, or dharma, and demerits, or adharma, is a causal mechanism and regulating force which bounds not only the individual, as it impacts one's karma, but also the whole universe, as it is one of the general causes, or karana. Moreover, in this alternative model, even *God is bounded by it, which does make the theory prone to the popular problem of theodicy. As will be explicated, this still underrepresented in the global philosophy of religion worldview does not centre around the problem of evil, instead focuses on collective actions and redistribution of outcomes.
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