evil and suffereing Flashcards
name 2 key philosophers when regarding evil and suffering?
1) Irenaus
2) Augustine
outline the key features of Augustine’s argument
- the fall of man, Adam ate the apple in the garden of Eden, and we was all partially present.
>natural evil occurs due to lack of order in the world.
> evil has been caused by the freewill given to humans and angels, and humans and angels turned their backs on god.
>god has the right not to intervene, as we have to pay for our sins
>the universe was originally good, ‘god saw what he had made and it was perfect’ genisi 1:31.
>the knowledge of evil developed due to the knowledge discovered by humans due to their disobedience.
what is the epistemic distance?
gad cannot be watching over our shoulders because we have to get it wrong for us to develop into god likeness, if god was watching we would conform to him.
what are the weaknesses of Augustine’s argument?
> hell appears to be apart of the design of the universe. god must of seen that humanity will go wrong and accepted this.
if the world was created perfect then there cant have been knowledge of evil or suffering. how could there have been a choice to disobey god. the fact that Adam and eve had a choice to disobey god shows that god must have had knowledge of evil and suffering.
what are the strengths of Augustine’s argument?
> values free will as the best choice god could have made for man kind
brain David agreed that evil cannot be called, its a ‘gap between what there ought to be’ therefore we cannot blame god for evil and evil is bot a substance.
outline the key features of irenaus’ argument?
> gods only aim for when he created the world was to make humans flawless in his likeness
genuine human perfection cannot be ready made, but must develop through free choice
since god gave us freewill he had to give us the potential to disobey him.
what are the strengths of irenaus’ argument?
> gives evil a purpose
>modern concept which allows for evolution+ john hicks additions.
what are the weaknesses of irenaus’ argument?
> love can never be expressed though evil and suffering, no matter what reason.
the magnitude of evil is so severe. did 6 million Jews need to die why wouldn’t 4 million be sufficient enough?
what are the 2 assumptions of the argument of evil and suffering?
1) evil is not from god, gods creation was faultless
2) evil came from within the world.
