Response to E&S-Free will defence

Question 1

what is the free will defence

Answer 1

we can choose to act or not act in any given circumstance,God has given up control over human actions in order to bring about a greater good,free will defenders argue that god wants humankind to choose the most loving action-soren kierkegard-parable of king and maiden illustrates why creation is free

Question 2

How do humans develop valuable qualities by having free will

Answer 2

Humans can make their own decisions which develops their valuable qualities,this development is brought about by being placed in situations that require us to make decisions and learn their consequences.

Question 3

How does free will allow people to choose to love god

Answer 3

By giving humans free will,they can genuinely choose to love god,parable of king and maiden-king did not want maiden to love him our of fear but choice.

Question 4

What does genesis say about free will

Answer 4

tree of knowledge of good and evil represents choice humans have.

Question 5

What is john mackies rejection of free will

Answer 5

First order good/evil-experience of happiness/misery
second order good/evil-response to suffering
people can make free choices,god could have made humans to make good choices but he did not so god either lacks the power to do so or is not loving enough-to conclude,god does not exist.

Question 6

What is platinga’s defence of free will defence

Answer 6

there are three possible worlds.1-world with free will,2-world without free will and god leading them to choose good- no evil,3-both free will and determinism-no evil.Platinga-the second world would make humans robots,the third is logically impossible because free will is incompatible with determinism ,only first is logically possible.

Question 7

What are strengths of FWD

Answer 7

1-Platinga-logically impossible for a world where people had free will but did not make bad choices
2-humans value risk of pain-many activities where risk of injury can increase people’s enjoyment
3-natural evil-human sin in eden

Question 8

What are weaknesses of FWD

Answer 8

1-FWD relies on libertarian account on free will,can only be assumed
2-evidential problem not solved-does not answer why there is so much suffering in the world and why god does not stop this
3-Platinga’s explanation of natural evil-that it was brought into world by actions of adam and eve-elevates a mythological story to status of philosophical argument