problem of evil key concepts Flashcards
who talks about the evidential problem of evil
Hume and Mill -
Mill on the evidential problem of evil
(who develops this and what do they say )
can be understandable for god to allow some evil but the amount in the world is excessive
- Draper: gratuitous evil - can actually embitter which makes it even worse
define the word embitters
make some resentful and bitter
define
gratuitous evil
who talked about it
evils that do not contribute to any greater good and includes the sufferings of animal, innocent children too young to learn a lesson etc
Paul draper
who talks about the inconsistent traid
Mackie
Hume on the problem of evil
his play
wrote a play with one of his characters being a sceptic
- prior probablility - someone unfamilliar with our world is unlikely to assume the world is a work of a good god
- his character Philio, uses analogy of a house full of imperfections (leaks, holes) - sceptical to assume divine being created it
what does hume mean when talking about nature having poor worksmanship and that the laws of nature lead to misery
natural evil
worksmanship: either excess of defecit such as floods then a drought
natural laws lead to misery - gravity makes people fall to their deaths - more danger in the world etc
how does hick differ to irenaous
heaven
hick belives in universalism - all souls go to heaven
irenaeus - souls burn in hell
3 solutions to the logical problem of evil
- dytheism - god is not wholly good
- process theology - god is not yet entirely omnipoteny and is changing and evolving
- theodicies !
Explain Irenaous and likeness
god created us in his image but we develop in the human world into his likeness
- jesus is the only one to be in his likeness so far
- adam and eve expelled into human world to develop - too immature
How does Schliermacher criticise arguments of free will
He proposed that it would be illogical for a perfect creation to go wrong so evil must have been created for a certain reason - its not just human free will because god could have made a perfect creation
criticism of Irenaous
most of his beliefs are not accepted by christians
god knew what would happen - omnipotent - so is responsible for the evil still
privatio boni
a similie
absence of good
augustine
darkness is just the absence of light
criticism of privation of good
four
- it is not like darkness because sickeness is not the abscence of health
- doesnt solve evidential problem of evil - excessive
- gods foreknowldeg takes away our responsibility
- occams razor
occams razor
how does it relate to augustine
simplest explanation is to be preffered
to believe in agustine is to believe in the fall of man, angels and origional sin
hick
two
humans have to be morally immature and imperfect to attain true freedom and goodness
soul making theodiy
chain of reasoning
hick - gratuitous evil - epistemic distance-prayer - experience
-mackie
hick criticised for gratuitous evil - no need for that since it wont benefit anyone
need for epistemic distance so has to have random evil
epistemic distance is a weak argument - pointless to pray if that was true since god wont show up and disproves so many religious experiences where god appears to ppl
furthermore - mackie - wonders why god would allow such cruelty if suffering is enough
swinburne on free will
free creatures must live in a free world
criticisms of process theology
- goes against christina doctrine bysaying god is not omnipotent
- against aquinas’ eternal timeless god
- only solves the issue by changing the def of god
great lisbon earthquake of 1755
natural evil example
demolished the city in portrugal
- 100,000 deaths estimated
- quakes, tsunami and fire
- during christian holiday all saints day
how do christians respond to natural evil of lisbon earthquake
2 points and eval
- ‘wrath of god’ - but why would he punish sinners by destoryin g churchers
- Rousseau - result of overcrowding in the city that caused deaths so moral evil - can link this to modern times global warming that is excacerbating bad weather - but if god caused this he wouldve known the result, just deflecting the problem
Voltairre on lisbon earthquake
uses it to discredit design argument
- god failed to create a safe world for human floruishing
