evil + suffering Flashcards
What are examples of natural evil?
Tsunamis, wild fires, diseases
What are examples of moral evil?
Murder, arson, genocide
What’s the logical problem of evil?
- God is omnipotent
- Got is omnibenevolent
- Evil exists
What’s the first solution to denying 1 of the 3 statements?
Denying God’s omnipotence (Process Theology)
What’s the second solution to denying 1 of the 3 statements?
Denying God’s omnibenevolence
What’s the third solution to denying 1 of the 3 statements?
Denying that evil exists
What is the free will defence?
Argues that God has to allow evil in order to preserve free will
If God controlled evil, there’d be no freedom
What is John Hick’s eschatological solution?
In the end everyone reaches God’s Kingdom; evil is a necessary part of the process to become fit for heaven
What’s the evidential problem of evil?
There are known facts about evil that are evidence against God’s existence
- Evil is overwhelmingly in quantity + quality
- Evil is pointless; serves no purpose
What’s evidence of evil thats overwhelming in quantity + quality?
Mass genocides
What is an example of pointless, purposeless evil? Who gave this example?
Rowe’s example of a fawn suffering a slow, painful death in a forest; it dies alone wo anyones knowledge
What is the evidential problem + God’s omniscience?
God is omnipotent; God is omnibenevolent; God is omniscient; Evil exists
What would an omniscient being know?
They would know, at the point of creating the universe that both overwhelming + pointless evils would occur
Which scholar goes with first, second, third + fourth order good/evil?
John Mackie
What are first order good/evils?
The experience in life of happiness/misery + pleasure/pain
e.g. eating cake/breaking a limb
What are second order good/evils?
We can respond to suffering w compassion/cruelty
What does second order good do?
Maximise first order good + minimise first order evil
What does second order evil do?
Maximise first order evil + minimise first order good
What is third order good?
Free will allows ppl to choose bet 2 things
Pain + suffering helps us develop capacity for sympathy to morally grow
What is fourth order good?
God creates humans w free will, which teaches us to be morally responsible