[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-661020-105":59,"doc-detail-661020-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","karmic-theodicies-paper-four-main-weaknesses","KARMIC THEODICIES - Paper - four main weaknesses","","Karmic theodicies are examined within certain South Asian religious and philosophical traditions, especially debates about how past actions permit present evils. The paper distinguishes retributive approaches, which stress deserved consequences for morally bad deeds, from character-building approaches, which emphasize moral development. It identifies four key weaknesses of retributive karmic theodicies and argues that character-building variants share parallel weaknesses, concluding they do not genuinely improve upon the retributive view.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":45,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/religion-spirituality/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/karmic-theodicies-paper-four-main-weaknesses/661020/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/karmic-theodicies-paper-four-main-weaknesses/661020.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Finn","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-29","2026-10-28",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":8},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What are the two main types of karmic theodicies discussed?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"The text distinguishes retributive karmic theodicies, focused on deserved retribution for morally bad actions, and character-building karmic theodicies, focused on moral development.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How does the paper connect karmic theodicies to the problem of evil?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"It explains that karmic theodicies claim at least some evils are permitted because they are karmic consequences of past actions, either as punishment by God or as natural consequences allowed by God.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What is the paper’s main conclusion about character-building versus retributive karmic theodicies?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"It argues that character-building karmic theodicies do not improve on retributive karmic theodicies, so rejecting retributive versions on serious grounds should also lead to rejecting the character-building versions.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},661020,1793155735,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":44,"category_name":45,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":8,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":129,"read_time":144},34359740700684,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/1f400023980c374ae676?_k=1777273430885731487","KARMIC THEODICIES  \nJustin Mooney  \nKarmic theodicies are prominent in certain South Asian religious and philosophical traditions. Traditionally, they emphasize retribution, but more recently many of them emphasize character-building. I identify what I take tobe the four main weaknesses of retributive karmic theodicies and argue that, for each of those weaknesses, character-building karmic theodicies suffer from a similar weakness. I conclude that character-building karmic theodicies do not improve on retributive karmic theodicies, and therefore, if one rejects retributive karmic theodicies on the basis of the formidable challenges they face, then one should reject character-building karmic theodicies as well.  \n1. Introduction  \nKarmic theodicies are prominent in certain South Asian religious and philosophical traditions.1 They suggest that at least some evils are permitted by God because they are karmic consequences of past actions. Although some authors speak of karmic theodicies in a broader sense that encompasses both theistic and non-theistic hypotheses, I will limit my attention to the former. Even given this limitation, there is not just one karmic theodicy; there are many. But all of the karmic theodicies that I am aware of can be sorted into two categories:2 retributive karmic theodicies, which emphasize retribution for morally bad actions, and character-building karmic theodicies, which emphasize moral development. Retributive karmic theodicies have been prominent historically, but more recently, character-building karmic theodicies have become prevalent as well.3  \n1 See especially Brahma Su-tra II.1.32–36 and its commentaries. See also Herman, The Problem of Evil.  \n2 Distinguished, e.g., by Stoeber,“Personal Identity.”  \n3 Recent work on karmic theodicy includes Gupta and Gallagher,“Reincarnation”; Gupta and Barua,“The Alchemy of Suffering”; Medhananda,“An Integral Advaita Theodicy,” and“A Great Adventure”; Freschi,“The Theory of Karman”; Williams,“Theodicy in a Deterministic Universe”; Gupta,“Re-envisioning a Caitanya Vaisnava ‘Perfect Being Theology’”; Maharaj, Infinite Paths, chs. 7–8; Barua,“Verifiability of Reincarnation,” and “The Mystery of God”; Burley, Rebirth and the Stream of Life, ch. 6,“Karma, Morality, and Evil,” and “Retributive Karma”; Smythe,“Objections to Karma”; Bilimoria,“Toward an Indian Theodicy,”  \npp.375–395  \nFAITH AND PHILOSOPHY Vol. 42 No. 3 July 2026 doi: 10.37977/faithphil.2026.42.3.4 All rights reserved  \n376 Faith and Philosophy  \nMany objections have been leveled against retributive karmic theodicies, so one might wonder: Do character-building karmic theodicies avoid these objections? And if so, do they thereby improve on their retributive counterparts? Stoeber argues that they do.4 Moreover, the recent prevalence of character-building in work on karmic theodicy suggests that others may share this view. But in this article, I contend that character-building karmic theodicies do not improve on retributive karmic theodicies, and therefore, if one rejects retributive karmic theodicieson the basis of the formidable challenges they face, then one should reject character-building karmic theodicies as well.  \nIn section 2 I sketch both retributive and character-building karmic theodicies. Then, over the course of sections 3–6, I identify what I take to bethe four main weaknesses of retributive karmic theodicies, and argue that, for each of these weaknesses, character-building karmic theodicies exhibit a similar weakness. The four weaknesses of retributive karmic theodicies concern these topics: navigating moral constraints on retribution (section 3); explaining the origin of suffering (section 4); accounting for the appearance of innocent suffering (section 5); and avoiding bad behaviors such as victim-blaming (section 6) . One thing I will not do in this article is compare karmic theodicies to non-karmic theodicies. Although a great deal could be said about whether karmic theodicies are ","cbCaim2DSNM5jvgG","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaim2DSNM5jvgG","pdf",117187,21,"English","# Introduction\n# Two Kinds of Karmic Theodicies","[{\"question\":\"What are the two main types of karmic theodicies discussed?\",\"answer\":\"The text distinguishes retributive karmic theodicies, focused on deserved retribution for morally bad actions, and character-building karmic theodicies, focused on moral development.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the paper connect karmic theodicies to the problem of evil?\",\"answer\":\"It explains that karmic theodicies claim at least some evils are permitted because they are karmic consequences of past actions, either as punishment by God or as natural consequences allowed by God.\"},{\"question\":\"What is the paper’s main conclusion about character-building versus retributive karmic theodicies?\",\"answer\":\"It argues that character-building karmic theodicies do not improve on retributive karmic theodicies, so rejecting retributive versions on serious grounds should also lead to rejecting the character-building versions.\"}]","KARMIC THEODICIES - Paper - four main weaknesses | PDF",53]