Good and Evil Flashcards
Define Evil
(2 marks)
St Augustine defines Evil as the absence of good (privatio boni)
And it can be both moral and natural
Also the impulse to seek our own desires with disregard for the consequences
This causes suffering
Define Suffering
(2 marks)
Suffering is the consequence of both moral and natural evil
which inflicts pain, hurt or loss
Define Privation
(2 marks)
Lack/absence of
Augustine defines Evil as the privation of good
Define Goodness
(2 marks)
The quality of being like God
which includes “loving thy neighbour as thyslef”
and following Jesus’ example
Define Incarnation
(2 marks)
God “enfleshed”
In Christianity, including Catholicism, Jesus is believed to be the Incarnation
God in human form
Being both fully human and fully divine
Define Natural Law
(2 marks)
An ethical theory proposed by St Thomas Aquinas of the universal and absolute distinction between right and wrong moral practices which we can discover through reason
Define Conscience
(2 marks)
God’s voice within us helping to determine right from wrong
We have this ability because of our creation imago dei
Define Free Will
(2 marks)
The ability, due to God’s omnibenevolence, for humans to act according to their own desires and chose between right and wrong for themselves
Why is evil a challenge to religious belief?
It seemingly contradicts the characteristics religion attributes to God
especially omnibenevolence and omnipotence
Questions his existence because, surely, a God witht he power to remove evil would do so as he is also all-loving
What is original sin?
Augustinian Christian Doctrine stating that humans are born with the tendency to sin (misuse free will)
It is a defect in human nature inherited from Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden
How did Adam sin in the Garden of Eden?
He disobeyed God’s command and ate fruit from the Tree of Knowledge
What does the story of Adam and Eve’s sin reveal?
When we disobey God’s commandments, evil enters the world
Where can Adam and Eve’s sin be found in the Bible?
Genesis 3
Name the 2 types of evil
Moral
Natural
What is moral evil?
And give 2 examples
Evil caused by human actions
Murder, theft
What is natural evil?
And give 2 examples
Evil caused by nature/the natural world
Earthquakes, tsunamis
Who proposed the theory of the Inconsistent Triad?
J L Mackie
Name J L Mackie’s theory to explain the Problem of Evil
The Inconsistent Triad
What does Mackie conclude in the theory of the Inconsistent Triad?
Either God is not omnibenevolent
He is not omnipotent
Or he simply does not exist
From God or not?
State the fundamental Augustinian belief on the origin of evil
God did not and could not create evil