Problem Of Evil (God)

Question 1

Problem of Evil Essay plan

Answer 1

P1. Intent

P2. Logical problem of evil
P2.1. Free will defence as a response
P2.3. Objection: Euthyphro dilemma

P3. Evidential problem of evil
P3.1 Soul-Making theodicy
P3.2 Objection: Pointless/Terrible evils, Animals suffering
P3.3 Defense: Hick’s response

P4. Objection: Verification Principle
P4.1 Eschalogical Verification
P4.2 Falsification Principle

P5. Conclusion

Question 2

Logical Problem of Evil

Answer 2

Deductive, a priori

God either wishes to take away evil and is unable, or he is able and unwilling.

God exists an an omnipotent, supremely good being.
He should have the power to and should want to eliminate all evil.
Evil still exists.
Therefore God must not exist.

Question 3

Free will defence + As a response to the Logical problem of Evil

Answer 3

Relies on Libertarian free will (We are free to do anything at anytime without restrictions)

Says God created humans as free agents (Capable of doing what’s morally wrong OR right and we bring evil into the world.

The existence of this evil is for the greater good of humans having free will.

Question 4

Evidential Problem of Evil

Answer 4

P1. There is intense suffering in the world which could have been prevented by a supremely good and perfect being, without losing some ‘greater good’

P2. A supremely good and perfect being will prevent pointless, intense suffering

C. Therefore a supremely good and perfect being does not exist

Question 5

Hick’s Soul-Making theodicy

Answer 5

God creates imperfect free agents in a (imperfect) world that will allow them to fully grow and develop, morally and spiritually.

Responding to pain and suffering allows these free agents to grow.

Therefore it’s for the greater good of the free agents growing their soul (morally and spiritually) that evil exits.

Question 6

Objection to Hick’s Soul-Making Theodicy

Answer 6

Pointless evils: Evils that don’t seem to serve the purpose of soul-making. E.g. Dying at birth, they haven’t had a chance to follow God or form their soul.

Terrible Evils: Huge natural disasters that seem unnecessary eg the holocaust

Animal suffering: If soul making is for humans, then why do animals suffer?

Question 7

Hick’s Defence Against Pointless and Terrible Evils and Animal suffering

Answer 7

Pointless Evils: Soul-making does not only happen on Earth, it continues into the afterlife

Terrible Evils: Evil is on a continuous scale, if we were to remove the worse thing, a new worse thing would appear, then we’d want to remove that! Final outcome would be the removal of evil, which would mean the removal of the possibility of soul-making.

Animal suffering: God can’t eliminate animal pain - it is part of being alive and to be consistant with the laws of cause and effect should apply to humans and animals alike.

Question 8

Ayer’s Verification Principle + Weak/Strong verification

Answer 8

VP states a sentence is only meaningful if

1. It’s a tautology: it’s true by definition
2. It can be shown to be true/false - it is verifiable

Weak verification: Describe a hypothetical situation where something could be true/false

Strong: Able to conclusively verify/falsify something by an actual observation

Question 9

Falsification Principle

Answer 9

States language is only meaningful if one can imagine the thing in question not existing/ being the opposite.

E.g The statement God exists become falsifiable by admitting it’s possible God doesn’t exist

Question 10

Hick’s Eschalogical verification

Answer 10

States we can verify, in principle, whether God exists or not in the afterlife (after death).