Evil and suffering

Question 1

What are the evaluations for John Hick’s soul-making theodicy?

Answer 1

strengths

• his view we are created at an epistemic distance from god and the view that heaven is promised for everyone can justify all the evils in the world
• soul-making can be accepted and individual people and humanity as a whole need challenges and suffering to develop character
• It is logical to believe that if god is our ‘father’ why would he want us to be punished and go to hell

Weaknesses

• Hicks argument contradicts itself he states that we have no good explanation for the suffering of animals but then he states there were no inexplicable animal suffering then our epistemic distance from God would be breached
• Does the promise of heaven justify allowing the extreme amount of evil and suffering in the world

Question 2

Name all the philosophers associated with evil and suffering chapter with what they have said?

Answer 2

Rowe - evidential problem of evil
Griffin - Process theodicy
Hick - Soul-Making theodicy
Mackie - First proposes the free will defense the opposes his own view
Plantinga - Defends the free will defense and argues that Mackie’s defense is illogical
Epicurus - Proposes the inconsistent triad

Question 3

When talking about Plantinga’s MSR what is a key quote to support MSR 1

Also what is a key qote to support Plantinga’s MSR 2 ?

Answer 3

” God could not eliminate much of the evil and suffering in this world without thereby eliminating the greater good of having created persons with free will”

Shows that we cant having complete autonomy and no evil in the world

MSR 2

“God allowed natural evil in the world as part of Adam and Eve’s punishment for their sin in the Garden of Eden”

Question 4

What is a key difference between Hicks theodicy and Augustine’s theodicy (remember that hick opposed Augustine’s theodicy and proclaimed it was “Utterly unacceptable”) ?

Answer 4

Augustine’s theodicy states the world is a place of soul-deciding

Hick’s theodicy states that the world is a place of soul-making

Question 5

Tillich states god and the universe exist….

Answer 5

…. necessarily, panenthestically and eternally

Question 6

When trying to overcome the logical problem of evil one soultion can be denying one aspect of the triad, when trying to deny that evil exists which philosopher proposed this idea?

Answer 6

• Augustine of Hippo

Augustine argued that evil is privatio boni (privation of good). By this, Augustine meant quite simply that evil does not exist in its own right but is an absence of good, just as darkness is an absence of light and ignorance is an absence of knowledge

Question 7

What does Plantinga state about Mackie’s argument against the FWD?

Answer 7

• Logical equivalent of a round square