3.1 the problem of evil + theodicies Flashcards
What is meant by natural evil?
evil caused by the natural state of things
e.g. the 2018 Indonesian earthquake
What is meant by moral evil?
evils that have come about as a direct result of human intentions and choices e.g. murder, theft, rape, etc
Which of the evils is easier to explain for religious believers?
moral evil as it is caused by humans exercising their free will
What is the logical problem of evil?
- put forward by the pre-Christian Greek thinker Epicurus and focuses on the inconsistent triad
What is the inconsistent triad?
- the premises that God is omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent are inconsistent with the fact that evil exists:
- if God is omnipotent, he can stop evil
- if God is omniscient, he knows about evil and how to stop it
- if God is omnibenevolent, he would want to stop evil
What does Hume add to the logical problem of evil?
as evil does exist, the God of classical theism doesn’t
What does J L Mackie propose in ‘Evil and Omnipotence’?
there are adequate and fallacious solutions to the problem of evil
What are the adequate solution to the problem of evil according to Mackie?
- changing the nature of God/limiting the meaning of omnipotence
- either God isn’t capable of doing the logically impossible OR evil is not a thing
HOWEVER in practice they reassert the proposition that God is omnipotent
What are the fallacious solutions to the problem of evil?
- offering ways to solve the problem while retaining the theistic concept
- claiming that evil is necessary for free will, or the counterpart to God BUT whilst they claim to keep the theistic concept they don’t try to hide
What is meant by the paradox of omnipotence?
What is the evidential problem of evil?
proposed by JS Mill and William Rowe
- God allows evil to occur in order to achieve a higher good BUT what higher good can excessive suffering serve
- there seems to be no good reason why God permits evil
- the existence of evil, although logically consistent with the existence of God, lowers the probability of the truth of theism
What is Augustine’s theodicy?
- argues that evil isn’t an actual phenomenon, its a privation of good
- evil came about from the original sin in Gen 3 which has corrupted human nature for all future generations
What are some strengths of Augustine’s theodicy?
+ biblical basis
+ evil isn’t part of God’s plan
+ free will is necessary, without it belief in God is meaningless
What are some weaknesses of Augustine’s theodicy?
- the fall is taken as literal
- if we are created with free will why should we be punished
- Was God not powerful enough to create a world where the Fall never happened?
What is Irenaeus’ theodicy?
- God gave humanity free will in order to achieve a particular purpose - to allow humans to develop moral and spiritual perfection to develop in the image of God
- to achieve moral perfection, humans must be given free choice, God must be at an epistemic distance
