Kroesbergen, Hermen2018-08-072018-10Kroesbergen, H. The commitment in feeling absolutely safe. International Journal for Philosophy of Religion (2018) 84: 185-203. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11153-018-9680-3.0020-7047 (print)1572-8684 (online)10.1007/s11153-018-9680-3http://hdl.handle.net/2263/66118The experience of feeling safe even in the midst of trials and temptations seems to be a central feature of the Christian faith. In this article I will try to solve some possible difficulties in understanding this kind of absolute safety by discussing some problems noted by philosophers in connection with the related statements by Socrates that a good man cannot be harmed, and by Wittgenstein that he sometimes feels absolutely safe, that nothing can injure him whatever happens. First, I will investigate whether there is an invalid prediction implied in this feeling of absolute safety: how can someone know that nothing will hurt him or her? Second, I will examine whether this experience of complete safety is dependent upon impossible requirements, such as to be a good man or an impeccable Christian. Third, I will consider the character of the people who claim absolute safety as portrayed by different philosophers: do these people really need to be so cold and inhumanly detached from the world for them to be able to say that nothing can hurt them? I will argue that if, instead of asking how someone can claim absolute safety, we ask to what someone commits him- or her-self in making this claim, these difficulties disappear.en© Springer Nature B.V. 2018. The original publication is available at http://www.springer.comseries/6102.Absolute safetyPeter WinchSocratesLudwig WittgensteinCommitmentPostprint Article