Strengths and weaknesses of the free will defence Flashcards
Strength - logical reason for moral evil
Provides a logical reason for moral evil in the world and removes the blame from God by placing it on humanity.
Strength - Alvin Plantinga
Although humans sometimes freely choose good, if God had designed them so they would always choose good, they would not truly be free. Their choices would be predetermined and we would be like robots.
Strength - benefits of free will
Benefits of free will are sufficient to justify the inherent risk of evil.
Strength - Christians
For Christians, free will bring the greatest reward of all: unity with God in Heaven. Achieving God’s forgiveness for sin and to form an eternal relationship can only be achieved through the individual’s free choice.
Strengths - natural evil
Can account for some types of natural evil. Swinburne took the example of death and argued, that despite the suffering it causes it is nevertheless essential to the FWD. Death means that life, and the chances that each life contains are limited.
Swinburne quote
“If there is always another chance there is no risk. There would not be overriding reasons not to do a ad act, if you are always preserved from it’s consequences.
Weakness - Fails to explain natural evil
Natural evil such as floods and disease is often independent of any actions of humans and cannot be controlled by them, William Rowe argues that there are many natural evils which do not cause a greater good.
Weakness - J.L. Mackie
Undermines one of the most basic assumptions of the FWD: that free will entails the potential for evil. He suggests that God could have created a world in which humanity has freedom of choice but always chooses good.
Weakness - Determinists
They argue that every human choice and action is nothing more than the effect of a prior causes. Our lives are determined by events outside our control and our freedom is an illusion.
