Evil and suffering Flashcards
What is Hick’s soul making theodicy?
- Evil exists to give actions moral value- required to develop morally
- Based on Irenaean theodicy- everyone is made in God’s image, and develops into God’s likeness
- Evil is required for free will to allow for this development, Epistemic distance- natural evil exists in order to create doubt that God exists, so free will is maintained (casual determinism).
-Universalism- everyone goes to heaven, even if moral development continues after death (purgatory)
What is Plantinga’s free will defence?
- Evil exists due to morally sufficient reasons
- MSR1- idea that evil exists because evil is required to make truly free choices
- Morally significant free will is more important than removing evil as if there were causal determinism from God forcing us to make good choices
- With evil our actions have moral value. MSR2 - natural evil exists as a punishment for the fall of man + story of Adam and Eve
What is the logical problem of evil?
-Act as proof against God’s existence, evil and the existence of God is a logical contradiction
- Epicurus- Is God willing but unable to prevent evil, then he is impotent. If he is able but not willing then he is malevolent.
- Mackies inconsistent triad
The Evidential problem of evil?
-amount or type of evil that is observed means that God most likely does not exist- posteriori, it is not philosophical proof
-Animal suffering- Hume argues that animal suffering is evidence against the existence of God as it can be observed, and if God existed he would stop
What example does William Rowe for the evidential problem of evil?
-e.g of a deer in a forest fire, and slowly dies over the course of several days, Because no one knows about this about this, no benefit to human beings, God should not allow this.
What is process theodicy?
- Developed by Alfred North Whitehead- argued that God is not omnipotent and is instead panentheistic with the universe
- God is the ‘fellow sufferer who understands’ because he sees evil but cannot outright prevent or stop it
Griffin- Genesis creation story has been misinterpreted, instead of God creating the universe ex nihilo, he is persuading matter into a more ordered state
-Order does help to suppress evil, e.g disease treatment, but because God is not omnipotent he cannot defeated evil outright.
What is a weakness of process theodicy?
- If God cannot defeat evil outright, there is no point in worshiping a God that is not omnipotent (Epicurus) as he may be defeated by evil
What is a strength of soul making theodicy?
- Epistemic distance (knowledge gap between us and God) can explain any type of evil. Explains moral evil as free will- God allows evil so we have the ability to grow by making meaningfully good choices
What is a weakness of soul making theodicy?
- many Christians will reject universalism. Epistemic distance does not adequately explain animal suffering
What is a strength of the free will defence?
-can explain moral evil. Libertarianism is required for judgement
What is a weakness of the free will defence?
-atheist will not accept Adam & Eve as an explanation for natural evil as it is theological in nature.
What is moral evil?
evil is the evil caused by human beings, e.g theft, lying, murder
What is natural evil?
-Natural evil is the evil that is not caused by human beings, e.g natural disasters, disease
What is the Augustinian theodicy?
- evil is the privation of God. This means that God is still omnipotent and omnibenevolent, as he did not create evil. Instead it results from the actions of Adam and Eve in disobeying
