Good and Evil

Question 1

What is the dictionary definition of evil?

Answer 1

“A force or power that brinfs about wickedness and harm/deliberately causes harm and misery”

Question 2

What do some people argue that evil is in the context of ‘good’?

Answer 2

The corruption or absence of good - a concept popularised by Thomas Aquinas.

Question 3

In Christianity, what is evil personified by?

Answer 3

The devil

Question 4

Give two quotes, one by Martin Luther King and the other by Edmund Burke that suggests witnessing evil and doing nothing to prevent it is an evil act of its own accord.

Answer 4

“Anyone who passively accepts evil is as much involved as those who help do it” - Martin Luther King

“Evil rules if good people do nothing” - Edmund Burke

Question 5

Define ‘metaphysical evil’ and give a couple of examples

Answer 5

Evil that limits all things to birth and decay eg. sickness, death

Question 6

What is natural evil? Give a couple of exampls

Answer 6

Natural evil is suffering that is caused by nature eg. earthquakes/flooding

Question 7

Define ‘moral evil’. Give a couple of examples.

Answer 7

Moral evil is suffering caused by human beings eg. war, genocide, poverty

Question 8

What is the philosophical problem of evil and suffering?

Answer 8

God is supposed to be a benevolent, omniscient, omnipotent being who loves all of humanity. However, evil and suffering still exists in the world, implying that either he allows it to happen, religious accounts of his existence are false or that he doesn’t exist.

Question 9

What is a theodicy?

Answer 9

A theodicy is an attempt to fuse together the idea of a loving God and our Earth of evil and suffering.

Question 10

What is the Devil supposed to be, how does he view humanity and what is his relationship with God?

Answer 10

The Devil is a rebellious angel who fell from heaven, he hates humanity and all Gods creation. He fights with God over human souls and aims to lure them to hell.

Question 11

Give 3 examples where the Devil appears in the Bible

Answer 11

• As the serpent in the Garden of Eden (Genesis)
• He is said to have tempted Jesus into the desert
• When Jesus ‘casts out demons’ in the story of ‘Legion and the pigs’

Question 12

How do some people regard the Devil?

Answer 12

Some peopel believe he is a metaphor for the desire to do wrong within humans and is not a real being.

Question 13

What is ‘free will’?

Answer 13

Free will is the ability to choose our actions.

Question 14

Who gave humans free will and what implications does this have?

Answer 14

God gave humans free will and therefore out actions are our own responsibility. Any doing of evil is not God’s responsibility, it is our own succumbing to Satan’s (the Devil’s) temptation.

Question 15

Outline the Augustinian Theodicy

Answer 15

Adam and Ever were created perfect in a perfect world, by eating fruit from the Tree of Knowledge and disobeying God (moral evil) they allowed natural evil to enter the world.

Therefore, evil and suffering is the doing of humans and a result of their free will.

Evil only occurs when good is corrupted by humans. God is fully innocent and pure.

Question 16

What does the Ireanaen Theodicy claim?

Answer 16

• We must experience pain to know pleasure
• The world is designed so these experiences can happen.
• God planned this and knows that the outcome of our suffering is a greater good.
• Only in this world of free will can individuals truly choose to love God and develop their spiritual selves. It allows us to develop our awareness of justice, compassion and forgiveness.

Question 17

“Love freely given is more meaningful than compulsory love”. How do the actions of God show this?

Answer 17

He gave humans free will so that they could develop their love and spiritual relationship with him of their own accord. Some Christians argue that the Devil’s temptations are part of God’s plans and a test of faith.

Question 18

Outline what happened when Anthony Walker was murdered in 2005 and how his mother responded

Answer 18

Anthony Walker was victim of a racial attack when he was waiting at the bus stop in the early evening, he was murdered after walking away from his killers who began by verbally abusing him.

Gee Walker, Anthony’s mother maintained an attitude of forgiveness towards his killers, saying she felt a motherly instinct towards them because they must have been ‘broken’ to do such a thing.

Question 19

What did Anthony Walker’s family do after his killing to initiate discussion about racism in the UK?

Answer 19

They established Anthony Walker foundation, visited schools and empowered BME communities to speak out about racial discrimination.

Question 20

Which theodicy does the case of Anthony Walker’s murder and his families response relate to and how?

Answer 20

The Irenaean theodicy

Although Anthony’s death was a tragedy, it could be argued that his family were able to strangthen their faith and spiritual wellbeing through the act of forgiving.

Question 21

Why is morality deemed to be ‘subjective’?

Answer 21

1. It depends on the situation it is being applied to
2. It depends on societal ‘norms’
3. It depends on the individual and their moral grouding.

Question 22

What is possibly the simplest solution to the problem of evil?

Answer 22

It’s to accept that the three propositions about God, that he is omnipotent, omniscient and benevolent are incompatible. A conclusion can be made that he therefore does not exist ⇒ athiesm.

The world is not the Garden of Eden, not the intricately designed piece of clockwork (Paley) but it is Macbeth’s ‘tale told by an idiot’.

Question 23

What is ‘dualism’?

Answer 23

The belief that evil cannot be blamed on God because it stems from a second almighty principle, an Antigod.

Question 24

Christianity, Judaism and Islam all teach that there is a Devil/Satan creatures who tempt humans into wrongdoing. However, none of these religions are dualistic - why?

Answer 24

These religions don’t teach that the Devil is a rival to God, but God’s creature and therefore God’s responsibility.

Question 25

Outline 7 different attitudes towards evil

Answer 25

• Evil is unreal and simply an absence of good.
• Hinduism and Buddhism teach that evil is an illusion brought about by human craving and greed.
• All evil originated from the act of ‘original sin’
• Evil is punishment for wrongdoing eg. natural disasters are caused God to punish humanity
• Evil is a test of faith (part of God’s plan)
• True good and happiness could not be experienced without evil and suffering
• Resignation - the beauty of life could not be achieved without evil and suffering (metaphor used is that of a tapestry and the loose ends of thread on the back)

Question 26

Which bible teaching contradicts the idea that God wishes to punish people for their wrongdoing?

Answer 26

“He makes his sun shine on good and bad alike” - Matthew 5:45-8

Question 27

Which bible teaching confirms that suffering in the world is a ‘test of faith’?

Answer 27

“For a little while you may have to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith…may redound to praise and glory and honour.”

Question 28

“Some think God tortures us because he loves us so much. What a shame he does not hate us, and treat us kindly” Who said this, and in which of his pieces of work?

Answer 28

Frank Kuppner in Last Eternal Moments

Question 29

What did Stanley Milgram famously research in 1963 and what historical event sparked his interest in this certain characteristic of human behaviour?

Answer 29

Stanley Milgram conducted research into obedience and how far a person would obey an instruction if it involved hurting another. The compliance of ordinary German citizens with the Nazi regime in WW2 is the event that caused him to be interested in this.

Question 30

Outline the steps involved in Stanley Milgram’s famous 1963 experiment

Answer 30

• Volunteers were recruited under the false pretence that it was an experiment about “learning”. 40 males between 20 and 50 years of age, with a range of occupations took part.
• At the beginning, they were introduced to another participant (actually a colleague of Milgram)
• They drew straws to determine their roles (either learner or fixer). However, this was always fixed so that the colleague was the learner.
• Two rooms were used - in one, the learner was strapped to an electric chair. In the other, the teacher spoke to them through a microphone and asked them to learn word pairs. The teachers were told to administer an electric shock every time the learner got the word wrong (which they did so often). They were also given standard instructions for when the learner acted distressed/in pain as these electric shocks got increasingly powerful (15 to 450 volts).

Question 31

What percentage of participants (teachers) in Milgram’s experiment continued to the highest level and administered a 450 volt shock willingly?

Answer 31

65% (the rest went to 300 volts)

Question 32

Milgram carried out 18 variations of this same experiment. What was his conclusion after it all?

Answer 32

Ordinary people are likely to follow orders given by an authority figure, even to the extent of killing an innocent human. Obedience is ingrained in us by the way we are brought up.

Question 33

What did Philip Zimbardo famously research in an experiment he conducted in 1973?

Answer 33

How readily people would conform to the roles of guard and prisoner in a role-playing exercise that simulated prison life. He wanted to discover whether the brutality reported in American prisons was due to the sadistic personalities of the guards or had more to do with the prison environment.

Question 34

How did Zimbardo carry out his experiment on power and control?

Answer 34

• He employed 21 male college students, they were reandomly assigned either a ‘prisoner’ or ‘guard’ role. There were 3 guards to 9 prisoners, each taking 8 hour shifts (the remaining 9 people were on-call guards).
• Prisoners were arrested in their own homes and treated just as real prisoners would be - driven to the site of the experiment, stripped naked and given prison clothes/bedding. The Guards received a khaki uniform, whistles, handcuffs and dark glasses so they could not make eye contact with the prisoners. No violence was permitted.

Question 35

Why did Zimbardo have to stop the experiment (which he’d planned to last for a fortnight)after 3 days?

Answer 35

One prisoner had to be released after 36 hours due to uncontrollable bursts of screaming,crying and anger. Within a few days, 3 others also had to be removed after showing signs of an emotional disorder that could have lasting consequences.

Question 36

What were the observations and conclusions made in Zimbardo’s experiment?

Answer 36

Prisoners and guards settled into their roles very quickly. Prisoners began bickering among themselves and holding the prison rules very highly, even telling on their fellow prisoners to the guards in order to gain favouritism. They became very dependent on the guards and the guards became more derisive towards them, treating them with contempt.

Conclusion: Environment can impact a persons morals and treatment of others a great deal.

Question 37

Who said “we are our choices”?

Answer 37

Sartre

Question 38

Who was Adolf Eichmann and why was his trial significant?

Answer 38

He was a Nazi officer who co-ordinated the transfer of thousands of Jews to ghettos and concentration camps - to their deaths. He was brought to trial in 1961 and showed no signs of hatred or remorse, simply claiming he was following orders and shifting responsibility to higher authority for the mass murder he had implemented.

Question 39

What did Nazi hunter Simon Wiesethal say with regards to the trial of Adolf Eichmann?

Answer 39

“The world now understands a desk murdered. We know that one doesn’t need to be fanatical, sadistic or mentally ill to murder millions.”

Question 40

What is ‘conscience’?

Answer 40

A person’s moral sense of right and wrong, which acts as a guide to their behaviour. Some Christians believe their conscience is the voice of God telling them what to do.