Evil and Suffering

Question 1

Give an example of moral evil

Answer 1

The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Question 2

Give an example of natural evil

Answer 2

The triassic extinction (some 200 million years ago an increase in atmospheric CO2 caused acidification of the Ocean and global warming that killed off 76% of marine and terrestrial species on Earth)

Question 3

Which Philosopher was the first to formulate the logical problem of evil?

Answer 3

Epicurus

Question 4

What is the logical problem of evil?

Answer 4

The existence of God is logically inconsistent with the existence of evil

Question 5

What kind of argument is the logical problem of evil?

Answer 5

a priori

Question 6

Who reformulated the logical problem of evil?

Answer 6

Mackie

Question 7

What did Mackie reformulate the logical problem of evil argument into?

Answer 7

The “inconsistent triad”

Question 8

What is the inconsistent triad?

Answer 8

The God of classical theism cannot exist if evil exists - either omnipotence, omnibenevolence or evil must not exist since all three are inconsistent

Question 9

Who put forward the evidential problem of evil?

Answer 9

David Hume

Question 10

What kind of argument is the evidential problem of evil?

Answer 10

a posteriori argument

Question 11

What is the evidential problem of evil?

Answer 11

The evidence of evil in the world makes belief in God unjustified. Hume is an empiricist and approaches the problem of evil as such

Question 12

Hume points out the a posteriori evidence for evil in the world

Answer 12

• Animal suffering
• Natural evil
• God does not intervene to prevent natural disasters

Question 13

Augustine’s theodicy

Answer 13

Augustine’s theodicy was born from his contemplating of the origin of sin - we are all born with original sin

Question 14

Augustine evil quote

Answer 14

“All evil is either sin or a punishment for sin”

Question 15

What did Augustine argue?

Answer 15

Evil does not actually exist and it is merely a privation of good (meaning it is the absence of good)

e.g. darkness does not actually exist as it is merely the absence of light

Question 16

Irenaeus’ theodicy

Answer 16

Instead of viewing the fall as negative, Irenaeus views it as a necessary stage in the development of humans towards perfection

Adam and Eve were like children who went astray because they lacked sufficient wisdom to do what is right

Question 17

John Hick’s modern Irenaen theodicy

Answer 17

Hick argued for the epistemic distance:
“Humanity is created at an epistemic distance from God in order to come freely to know and love their maker”

Question 18

Hick’s soul making theodicy

Answer 18

an attempt to reconcile the existence of evil with the belief in a benevolent God. It proposes that the world was created by God as a place for human beings to develop and grow morally and spiritually, and that this requires a world in which there is the possibility of suffering and evil

Question 19

What is process theodicy?

Answer 19

The belief that God is not omnipotent, but is instead constantly evolving with the world and that evil exists due to the limitations of the world, rather than due to the will of an omnipotent God

Question 20

Why is process theodicy a satisfactory response for evil?

Answer 20

• God is bound by natural laws
• God is not omnipotent
• God could not create a perfect world (explains natural evil)
• God could not perfect humans (explains moral evil)
• God is dipolar (partly distinct and immersed in the world)
• A.N. Whitehead = “God is the fellow sufferer who understands”

Question 21

Provide a critique for your point that process theodicy is a satisfactory response to the problem of evil

Answer 21

Many people would not be willing to accept a God that is not omnipotent since they would not be worthy of worship

Question 22

Why is process theodicy not a satisfactory response to the problem of evil?

Answer 22

• God is somewhat accountable for evil and suffering
• This is because God was a catalyst for the evolutionary process of creation knowing that he would not he able to control it
• Griffin = “God is responsible for evil in the sense of having urged the creation forward”

Question 23

Provide a critique for your point that process theodicy is not a satisfactory response to the problem of evil

Answer 23

Would it not have been more evil to have never started the process of creation and not given the opportunity of life?

Question 24

What does Gil Edwards state?

Answer 24

It is only through suffering that qualities such as courage, trust and tolerance have an opportunity to come out to the fore