Problem of evil

Question 1

what is moral evil?

Answer 1

the acts of humans which are considered to be morally wrong, eg murder and theft

Question 2

what is natural evil?

Answer 2

natural disasters, eg earthquakes or tsunamis, which humans have no control over

Question 3

Who proposed the inconsistent triad?

Answer 3

First proposed by Epicurus, also used by Hume and Mackie

Question 4

What is the inconsistent triad?

Answer 4

God is omnipotent - God is omnibenevolent - Evil exists

Therefore, God is either not omnipotent (is not able to get rid of evil) or not omnibenevolent (does not want to get rid of evil) or God does not exist at all.

Question 5

What did Hume conclude from the inconsistent triad?

Answer 5

God does not exist at all

Question 6

What is the evidential problem of evil ?

Answer 6

The study of empirical evidence of evil to undermine god’s existence

Question 7

What is Mill’s argument?

Answer 7

Mill argues that the evidence of nature does not indicate a good and loving creator, it does not point to an omnibenevolent God but one who is sadistic and who behaves in all the ways that we condemn when we see them in human criminals

Question 8

What quote does Mill use?

Answer 8

“Nearly all things which men are hanged or imprisoned for doing to one another are nature’s everyday performances”

Question 9

What does Mill say nature does to men?

Answer 9

“impales men…burns them to death…starves them with hunger…”

Question 10

What did Paul argue?

Answer 10

• His argument is that if a creator exists, then it has chosen to fashion a habitat that has maximised the level of suffering and death among children due to factors beyond the control of humans.
  
  • This means that if God exists as the creator of the world, He has allowed, or even intended, for us to live in a world of great natural evil. The extent of this evil does not allow for an omnibenevolent, omniscient and omnipotent creator God.

Question 11

What evidence does Paul use?

Answer 11

○ 50% of pregnancies fail
○ The majority of conceptions do not run to full term. As such, there have been around 300bn natural prenatal deaths.
○ Billions of children have died in 10000 generations, and have had no chance to hear the Christian message, and no free will, and no earthly experience to develop virtues

Question 12

What did Rowe argue?

Answer 12

• Rowe thinks it best to focus on a particular kind of evil that is found in our world in abundance. He therefore selects “intense human and animal suffering” as this occurs on a daily basis, there are many examples of it, and is a clear case of evil
  
  • More precisely, it is a case of intrinsic evil: it is bad in and of itself, even though it sometimes is part of, or leads to, some good state of affairs

Question 13

What is a theodicy?

Answer 13

A theodicy is an attempt to defend God with His attributes of omnipotence and omnibenevolence in the light of evil.

Question 14

Explain Augustine’s theodicy

Answer 14

• God is a perfect being who created a perfect world as proven in Genesis. It must have been perfect as it is logically impossible for a perfect being to create an imperfect world.
• Evil is not a creation, it is a privation of good (privatio bono). God is not responsible for evil.
• As God is omnibenevolent, he created humans with free will to be moral agents.
• When Adam and Eve sinned, the Original sin, it upset the natural order, creating natural evil.
• All suffering is either a consequence of God’s punishment for human abuse of free will or a consequence of abuse of free will.
• We are all seminally present in Adam, therefore everyone biologically inherits original sin.

Question 15

What supports God’s benevolence?

Answer 15

Jesus was sent to atone for our sins - a sign of God’s benevolence “For God so loved the world, he gave his only son so that all who believe in him will not perish but will have eternal life.”

Question 16

Is God justified in sending everyone to hell?

Answer 16

God would be justified in sending everyone to Hell due to original sin, but saves some people because of His grace.

Question 17

What are the weaknesses of Augustine’s theodicy? (7)

Answer 17

• Aug makes an assumption based on faith, but not everyone believes God is a perfect being
• The fact that Adam and Eve disobeyed God shows that there was knowledge of evil, proving that evil existed before they disobeyed. God must have created evil.
• Why is God not responsible for what he hasn’t created?
• If God created hell, he must’ve known that people would abuse free will, so why give it in the first place?
• Not all natural evil can be blamed on human abuse of free will
• It challenges God’s benevolence and omnipotence because he is not powerful enough to limit the suffering that comes from abuse of free will and he may not be benevolent if he punishes people for abuse of free will as the punishment might also have consequences for innocent people
• It does not fit with biology as sin isn’t passed on genetically

Question 18

What is Schliermacher’s weakness of saying the world is perfect?

Answer 18

Our world did go wrong so there is a logical problem with Aug’s argument as a perfect world cannot go wrong

Question 19

What are Mackie’s weaknesses of Aug?

Answer 19

• Not every quality requires a lack of it to exist e.g. Red can exist without redness. So virtues could exist without a lack of them.
• Could God not have just given people the choice between two goods?

Question 20

What is Phillips’ weakness of God’s omnibenevolence?

Answer 20

Love can never be shown by enabling suffering

Question 21

What is Dostoevsky’s weakness?

Answer 21

Free will is not worth the price of the suffering that comes from it.

Question 21

What are the strengths of Augustine’s theodicy?

Answer 21

• Supports God’s benevolence and omnipotence
• Maintains human free will

Question 22

What is Irenaeus’s theodicy?

Answer 22

• God made humans in his image so they could grow into his likeness - “God made man in his own image to be in his likeness”- people have to grow into his likeness, perfection cannot be ready made.
• Genuine human perfection can only be created if humans are free , as God wanted humans to be able to be loving and freely chosen love is the highest form of love
• God designed natural evil, a world with imperfections, on purpose. These imperfections help humans develop into God’s likeness by helping them develop virtues.
• Making humans free allows for the possibility of free will abuse and therefore suffering, so God is justified in allowing evil to continue as it comes from free will abuse.

Question 23

How does Hick develop Irenaeus’ theodicy?

Answer 23

• God must be at an epistemic distance from humans otherwise this would take away free will. He cannot interfere.
• The world was created by God to enable our souls to develop so they were fit to meet God after death. This world is the “vale of soul making”
• There must be life after death to make up for suffering in this lifetime, a place where people are able to continue to develop so all will be saved in the end.

Question 24

What are the strengths of Irenaeus’ theodicy?

Answer 24

• supports God’s benevolence as he wants humans to have virtues
• supports God’s omnipotence
• If we automatically love God, then our love would be valueless.
• without suffering there could be no second order goods eg bravery
• Jonah and the whale - the storm that caused him to be swallowed by the whale ultimately helped him do God’s will
• Irenaeus uses the example of a potter being able to mould clay, it must remain flexible so that it can be moulded. Otherwise it hardens (like the people who abuse their free will and turn from God).

Question 25

How does Vardy support Irenaeus’ idea that humans must be free?

Answer 25

Analogy of King and peasant girl
- in order for the peasant girl to freely choose to love him, he had to meet her disguised as a peasant man. If he had met her as the king, she would have been forced to love him and that would not be such a high form of love

Question 26

What quote from Hick supports Irenaeus?

Answer 26

“A world which is to be a person-making environment cannot be a pain-free paradise but must contain challenges and dangers, with real possibilities of many kinds of accident and disaster; and the pain and suffering which they bring,”

Question 27

What are the weaknesses of Irenaeus?

Answer 27

• The price of free will is too high
• Surely there is a better way to evolve into God’s image
• Phillips

Question 28

How does Mackie criticise Irenaeus?

Answer 28

• God is omnipotent and so should be able to make humans perfect from the start
• If men are truly free God is no longer omnipotent as he cannot control them
• People could develop virtues with less suffering than we have on earth
• Surely an omnipotent God does not have to create evil in order for there to be good. God creates the laws and so can ensure that evil is not required to create good.

Question 29

How does Dostoevsky criticise irenaeus?

Answer 29

It is better to have no free will than the terrible suffering of innocent children

Question 30

Which problem of evil depends on the other?

Answer 30

Logical can not exist without evidential

Question 31

Why can you not use free will defence with evidential?

Answer 31

Babies that die dont have chance to develop virtues or into likeness of god