Evil and Suffering Flashcards
natural evil
give an example and a Biblical example
any suffering brought about as a consequence of events outside the control of free will agents
e.g. earthquakes
Old Testament - flooding of Red Sea
moral evil
any suffering brought about through the actions of a free will agent
e.g murder
who created the logical problem of evil
Epicurus - 3rd century
God wants to abolish evil and can’t or he can but does not want to. If God can or wants to why is it here
who reinvented the logical problem
J L Mackie - 20th
the inconsistent Triad
tries to resolve the questions about Paradox
what are the 3 points on inconsistent Triad?
- God is not omnipotent - loves world but can’t prevent evil
- God is not benevolent - has power but does not want to
- evil does not exist - problem is our intrepation of our experience
how does the inconsistent Triad rest on assumption -2
- assumes God were omnipotent and benevolent he would therefore remove evil but evolved may serve some higher purpose.
- Aquinas what we assume to be good may not be what we understand as good - Like God, relent to time and culture which changes
who created the evidential argument - 3
- William Rowe
- argument based on evidence of the kinds of evils and amount of them
- argument based on unjustified evil , as not all suffering is pointless
what is Rowes argument - 3
- exist instances of intense suffering which are omnipotent being could of prevented without losing some greater good
- an omniscient wholly being would prevent intense suffering unless it could not without losing some greater good
- concludes doesn’t exist an omnipotent omniscient wholly good being
what does Dostoyevsky say and which argument doe sit apply to
‘better for God to have created no world than this one’ - evidential
what is Rowes example
fawn - pointless suffering
what are some links between suffering and evil - 3
- suffering is caused by evil
- Rowe accepts some suffering is good
- Dostoyevsky ‘I most respectfully return my ticket’
determinism
no free will at all
compatibilist view of freedom
freedom and determinism compatible
we are free to do what we want but what we want would be determined
non compatiblst view of freedom
free will and determinism not compatible - God could not given us a nature which ensures that we always did what was good
what is the free will defence
gift of free will - gives permission to do evil and ability to opportunity to do evil