The problem of evil Flashcards
definition of evil
Evil is the “profound immorality and wickedness, especially when regarded as a supernatural force”
What kind of argument is the logical problem of evil
A priori – evil and classic theistic God cannot exist together – proves one of the greatest challenges within the Christian doctrine
- A priori argument – as logical conclusions without experience
Epicurus - Logical Problem
1.Is God willing but not able to prevent evil? Then he isn’t omnipotent
2.Is God is able to prevent evil but not willing? Then he isn’t omnibenevolent
3.If God is both able and willing, then why is there evil?
4.If God is neither able or willing then why call him God?
Mackie
‘Inconsistent triad’ - argued that the God of classical theism (omnipotent and omnibenevolence) cannot exist if evil exists.
What does the ‘inconsistent triad’ prove
Omnipotence entails the power to eliminate evil. Omnibenevolence entails the motivation to prevent evil. Something cannot possibly exist if there is a being with the power and motivation to eliminate it. Therefore, if evil exists, an omnibenevolent and omnipotent God cannot exist. God could at most be omnibenevolent or omnipotent but not both.
Inconsistent as alleged as one cannot believe all at the same time without there being some contradiction
Mackie quote
the conjunction of any two entails the negation of the third
What kind of argument is the evidential problem of evil
A posteriori – evidence of evil within the world, makes belief in God unjustified
Logical possibility that evil and perfect God exist together, but evidence is against
Hume - evidential problem, 4 statements
1-Animal suffering. Why shouldn’t nature be created such that animals feel less pain, or indeed no pain at all?
2-Creatures have limited abilities to ensure their survival and happiness
3-Why does nature have extremes which make survival and happiness more difficult? Natural evil
4-Why doesn’t God intervene to prevent individual natural disasters?
Hume - evidential problem
God could have made without = evidence of non-existence
Hume says it is ‘possible’ that a perfect God exists but allows evil for reasons consistent with omnibenevolence, ‘but they are unknown to us’.
-arguing that whatever speculations theologians like Augustine and Irenaeus might invent about God’s ‘reasons’ for allowing evil, we have no evidence that God has such reasons.
-We can only believe what evidence suggests, and so belief in perfect God is unjustified as you cant infer perfect goodness from evil
-Empirical inference from evil to belief in a perfectly good God is unjustified
Hume quote
“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is impotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Whence then is evil?”
Mill - Evidential problem
Instead of an Omnibenevolent God (if there even is one) Mill argues that it is clear through observation of the natural world, that a sadistic immoral God must exist– one that we should not be basing our moral values off of
What is Augustine’s’ theodicy
Soul Deciding – We have to choose whether or not to obey God, by turning back to God through the salvation of Christ
Genesis - how this led to the birth of evils within the world
Original sin – couldn’t have been God as it would contradict his omnibenevolence and so looked at the Genesis story for an explanation
Garden of Eden was a perfect place. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and as a punishment were banished to this earth often called a ‘fallen world’. This episode is referred to as ‘the Fall’. After their sin, God said Eve will now have pain in childbirth and Adam would have to ‘toil’ the land to make food.
-Leads to a loss of harmony in nature and natural evil
-People continue to fall short, and this leads to moral evil
Original sin effects
First sin of Adam and Eve corrupted all of humanity, corruption in human nature, which makes people want to sin
Seminal presence – all inherited ‘all seminally present in the loins of Adam’
all born sinful beings who therefore deserve this punishment of living in a fallen world. God is not responsible for evil as it results from the free will of angels and humans
Augustine quote
“All evil is either sin or a punishment for sin” – Augustine.
For Augustine what does evil exist as
Evil does not exist. It is merely a privation of good, meaning it is the absence of Good.
-Humans fell away from God so fell away from his goodness, resulting in what we mistakenly call ‘evil’
-Evil has no ‘positive existence’ only a negative one
E.g. darkness does not actually exist, it’s merely the absence of light. Darkness is not a ‘thing’ but our minds trick us into thinking it is.
Augustine vs. the logical problem
Logical problem claims impossible for both God and evil to co-exist
Augustine – God allows evil because we deserve it
-If the logical possibility of that claim can be defended, then Augustine will have defeated the logical problem of evil.
Original sin violates moral responsibility
Original sin violates moral responsibility – not ethical for all of humanity to be blamed for actions of Adam and Eve
-Suggests indefensible view of moral responsibility - people can be responsible for actions committed by others which is of special absurdity in this case since the action occurred before they were even born
Augustine: God did not blame all of humanity for Adam’s sin, factual consequence that we all became infected with due to seminal presence
-Made into sinful beings at birth
-Not being punished for Adam and Eve, but because we are sinful beings as we have OS
Not our fault we have OS
-Unfair/incompatible with omnibenevolence that we are punished
-Especially when considering cases like a child with cancer, it’s difficult to maintain that a child deserves cancer because it has original sin
God’s justice that a child has cancer, and God is still omnibenevolent despite allowing
logically inconsistent
Peter Singer argues it is “impossible to believe” that a child who dies from natural evil deserved it because of sin.
How does Augustine argue against unfair evils within the world that seemingly contradict his omnibenevolent nature
Augustine: Insists Gods reason and justice beyond human understanding
-Can’t use limited minds to judge God
-“secret yet just judgement of God”, indicating that it is inscrutable – impossible for us to understand – but we should have faith it is just.
Augustine points to Psalm 25:10: ‘All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth,’ and concludes: “neither can his grace be unjust, nor his justice cruel”.
Debatable that problem of evil is just because of epistemic distance
- Cop-out answer
- Fails to provide a logical response
Augustine vs. the evidential problem
Evidential problem: Evidence of evil in the world makes belief in God unjustifiable
Augustine: God allows evil as we deserve it
Scientific evidence against the fall:
Scientific evidence against the fall:
-Geneticists’ claim evidence from genetic diversity means impossible for all of humanity to have descended from two people
-Evolution – evolved not created
Augustine’s understanding of biological reproduction is false
-admits that procreation is a mystery to him, but still falsely continues to his claim that all future generations are “in the loins of the father”. –
-wrongly thought that reproduction worked by there being little people inside men, so when Adam sinned all future humanity became infected by it.
OS evident in society i.e. as a child he stole a pear from a garden for pleasure of sinning
- Concluded children desire to sin = must be born that way
- Concupiscence observed: people have their own will overwhelmed by bodily desires, which Augustine takes to be evidence for original sin.
Pelagius - how Augustine’s observations of society are wrong
Augustine’s observations reflect his society, not human nature
-Although may appear that have strong forces within us that incline us towards evil , simply because of the way we are raised
-In our nature as upbringing ‘educated in evil’
could add contemporary historical and sociological evidence to Pelagius’ point
Humans have progressed
-Martin Luther King said, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice”.
-Steven Pinker attributes to the power of human reason that violence has decreased, even considering the 20th century.
-The average human life seems more secure than at any prior point in history.
If Augustine were correct that original sin caused an irresistible temptation to sin, then human behaviour could not have morally improved, yet it ha
Alternatively: an omnibenevolent God would prevent transmission of original sin:
-God designed the natural laws by which procreation operates, and for some reason designed human procreation to allow the inheritance of original sin.
-omnibenevolent God would not allow a child to suffer negative consequences as a result of the actions of its ancestors, therefore God would not design procreation to pass on original sin.
