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Philosophy, ethics and religion. > The problem of Evil > Flashcards

The problem of Evil Flashcards

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1
Q

What is St. Augustine’s quote about the problem of evil?

A

‘Either God cannot abolish evil or he will not; if he cannot he is not all-powerful, and if he will not, then he is not all good’.

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2
Q

What book of John Stuart Mill’s does he talk about the argument against God?

A

Nature and the Unity of Religion (1874)

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3
Q

Name a quote from John Stuart Mill.

A

Everything evil is ‘perpetuated on a larger scale by natural agents’

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4
Q

What is the devil’s fault argument?
Who was its most famous teacher?

A

Evil is the Devil’s doing.
Zoroaster, a religious teacher living in Persia, 500 years before Jesus.

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5
Q

What did Zoroaster teach?

A
  • There are two main forces in the universe, good and evil.
  • Evil force was Ahriman, good force was a God called Ahura Mazdah.
  • These two forces are permanently battling one another. Sometimes Ahriman wins, explanation for evil in the world.
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6
Q

How can Zoroaster’s ideas be described?

A

Dualism

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7
Q

What is monotheism?

A

Belief in only one God or deity.
Made the world with materials that already existed.

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8
Q

What is the problem of monotheism and the idea of the Devil?
What philosopher spoke of this problem?

A

If there is only one God, God created the Devil.
Friedrich Schleiermacher, ‘who made the devil?’ argument.
‘The Christian Faith’ (1821)

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9
Q

What is the difference between the monotheist view and the Christian view?

A
  • Monotheists, a God who created everything.
  • Christians, creato ex nihlo.
  • Monotheists would say God created everything out of material that was already there, evil already existed, he didn’t create it.
  • Christians would say that God created evil.
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10
Q

What is creato ex nihlo?

A

God made everything out of nothing.

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11
Q

How could you get around the argument against creato ex nihlo?
What is the issue with this?

A
  • Claiming that the Devil, like God, has always existed.
  • After creation, Devil brought evil into the world through the Fall, God has been battling him since.

Problem:
- Would make God not seem omnipotent, he is eternal, in battle with evil God.

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12
Q

How did Augustine use fallen angels to explain the problem of evil?

A
  • God created the world out of nothing, God placed angels and humans in the world with FREE WILL.
  • Some angels misuse free will, mislead by chief, Satan.
  • Become fallen angels.
  • Humans also swayed by their free will, the Fall.
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13
Q

Does Augustine think God has abandoned humans after the fall?

A
  • God has not abandoned humans, has a salvation plan for them.
  • God entered into the world as Jesus, the saviour.
  • His life, death and resurrection is evidence of him facing evil and overcoming it.
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14
Q

Who was the first person to state the problem of evil?

A

Epicurus.

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15
Q

What does the problem of evil contradict?

A

The inconsistent triad.
- Omnipotent
- Omnibenevolence
- Evil exists

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16
Q

What is the Epicurean paradox?

A
  • Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able to? Then he is not omnipotent.
  • Is God able to prevent evil, but not willing to? Then he is malevolent.
  • Is God able to prevent evil and willing to? Then why is there evil?
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17
Q

What is the modern version of the epicurean paradox?

A

David Hume and J L Mackie (20th century philosophers) presented it in the inconsistent triad.

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18
Q

In reference to time, what could a solution be to the inconsistent triad?

A
  • Could say God is temporal? Eternal.
  • Inside time, sees things as they come.
  • But then not omnipotent.
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19
Q

What term is used for a solution for the problem of evil?

A

Theodicy- justifying God.
God is loving in the face of evil.
Explains moral and natural evil, proving that it is not God’s fault.

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20
Q

What is the difference between natural and moral evil?

A

Natural- in the world, not man-made, like hurricanes.
Moral evil- humanity, our choices.
Natural evil much more difficult to justify.

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21
Q

Which philosophers come up with theodicies?

A
  • Irenaeus (Hick’s interpretation also)
  • Augustine
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22
Q

What story do Irenaeus and Augustine both use, viewing it as a historical event?

A

The Genesis story

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23
Q

Why did God give humans free will?

A

To separate them from animals.

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24
Q

What group of people believe that the story of Genesis is real events?

A

Creationists.

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25
Q

What do agnostics, atheists and (some) Christians describe the story of Genesis?

A

A religious myth.

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26
Q

How does John Hick describe religious myth?

A

‘illuminate by means of unforgettable imagery’
Evil and the God of Love (1966)
Illuminates a religious ‘truth’

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27
Q

Who came up with the concept of moral evil?

A

Gottfried Leibniz

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28
Q

What does Leibniz say about moral evil? Give a quote.

A

‘evil consists in…moral evil in sin’
Moral evil includes things like murder, war, persecution, genocide.

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29
Q

What did Leibniz say about natural evil?

A

Consists of things like hurricanes, earthquakes, floods.
Humans cannot be blamed for these disasters.

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30
Q

What is an alternative argument to the devil’s fault argument and the free will argument?

A

The instrument argument.

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31
Q

What is the instrument argument?

A

Idea that God uses evil as an instrument.
The wrath of God argument.
- God uses evil as a just punishment for human evil.

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32
Q

What is an example of the Instrument argument?

A
  • Biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah.
  • God bring down ‘brimstone and fire’. Destroys the two cities, ‘then the lord rained down burning sulphur’.
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33
Q

What happened on All Saint’s Day, making people question their faith?

A
  • 1755, earthquake shook Lisbon, Portugal.
  • 10,000-15,000 people died.
  • Most people that died were in church and most that survived were atheists.
  • Part of instrument argument, God’s moral judgement on a sinful city?
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34
Q

What is the ‘God testing us’ argument?

A
  • God uses evil to test our faith, faith in God is easy if your life is comfortable.
  • If we suffer a disaster and lose faith in God, then our faith is exposed as weak.
35
Q

What is an example of the ‘God testing us’ argument?

A

Abraham is put to the test, having to sacrifice his son Isaac, ‘take your son, your only son’.

36
Q

What is the problem with the ‘God testing us’ argument?

A

Can God really be called good or benevolent?

37
Q

What is a direct consequence of the Lisbon earthquake?

A

Voltaire, French philosopher wrote a poem about the earthquake, mocking the idea that everything in the world is for the best.

38
Q

What did Voltaire write about inexcusable evil?

A

1759, Candide.
Hero, young man called Candide suffers all sorts of disasters.
Each disaster, philosopher companion, Dr Pangloss, defends God.
Message is that there was inexcusable evil, we need to live in doubt and uncertainty.

39
Q

How do people counter Voltaire’s view?

A

Who are we to doubt God when he is the only one who sees the bigger picture?
In the Book of Job, God tests Job with many disasters, when he complains God said he has no right to question him.

40
Q

What argument has the idea of God’s bigger picture been developed into?

A

The aesthetic argument:
If you look at a painting close-up, may see the flaws, but standing back it is beautiful.

41
Q

What key thinker talks of the aesthetic argument?

A

Plotinus
‘We are like people ignorant of painting’.

42
Q

Give context about Augustine.

A

St Augustine of Hippo, Christian bishop.
(354-430 CE)

43
Q

How does Augustine explain natural and moral evil?

A

All evil is as a result of misuse of free will from humans and angels.

44
Q

What does Augustine think is evil?
What does this idea reject?

A

Evil is not a force in itself, but the privation of good.
Rejection of the Manichean position (cosmic dualism, good and evil are forces in constant battle).

Blindness is an absence of sight, poverty is an absence of wealth etc.

45
Q

What is another term for the privation of good?

A

Privatio boni.

46
Q

What book does Augustine talk about the Problem of Evil?

A

Confessions.

47
Q

What is a key difference between Augustine and Irenaeus’ theodicy?

A

For Augustine, evil is a misuse of free will, yet for Irenaeus, evil had a purpose.

48
Q

What are the criticisms of Augustine’s theodicy?

A
  • Literal understanding of Genesis is not accepted by most Christians.
  • Scientific knowledge suggests that ‘natural evil’ was around long before humans.
  • Where does the inclination for evil come from?
  • Is evil really just an absence? Cancer?
49
Q

What is a similarity between Augustine and Irenaeus?

A

Both began with literal readings of Genesis 1-3.

50
Q

What did Irenaeus think about the story of Genesis?

A
  • Humans are led astray by the Devil in the Garden of Eden, as although they were born in the image and likeness of God, they are also far from God (epistemic distance, as Hick puts it).
  • Adam and Eve had not yet developed sufficient wisdom.
  • Sin is the characteristic of all future generations, because all humans are ‘seminally present’ in Adam. Sexist?????
51
Q

Irenaeus said humans were ________ present in Adam.

A

Seminally

52
Q

What is Irenaeus’ argument called?

A

The soul-making argument.

53
Q

What is Irenaeus’ soul-making argument?

A
  • When God first created humans, did them in his image, but we were just at the start of growing and developing.
  • By living in the world, we grow and strengthen.
  • Will achieve our perfect state and being in the ‘likeness’ of God.
54
Q

Who adds to Irenaeus’ argument?

A

John Hick, twentieth century philosopher.

55
Q

Give a quote from John Hick.

A

‘moral beings may be fashioned into children of God’.

56
Q

What does John Hick add to the soul-making argument?

A
  • We are in a world that we will inevitably face hardships.
  • By facing up to suffering we become stronger and spiritually more grown up.
57
Q

What poet adds to the theodicy of ‘soul-making’?

A

John Keats
Wrote a letter in 1819, he said the world is a ‘vale of soul-making’.

58
Q

How did Hick differ from Irenaeus?

A
  • Did not take Genesis 1-3 as a literal event. Saw it as mythological to teach us about the world.
59
Q

What does Hick adopt from Irenaeus’ theodicy?

A

Adopted ideas of ‘image’ and ‘likeness’ of God.
We are rational and have free will, but are spiritually immature.

60
Q

Why does Hick disagree with Augustine?

A
  • We were not created in the presence of God, as this would make free will impossible, we would be overpowered by his presence.
  • So, we were not created perfect, like Augustine suggested.
61
Q

What are Hick’s key terms?

A
  • Epistemic distance
  • Soul-making
  • Eschatological verification.
62
Q

What is the definition of epistemic distance?

A
  • Term which expresses the above idea.
  • If God’s presence in the world was not obvious, humans could not love God by free choice.
  • So we are distanced.
63
Q

What is the definition of eschatological verification?

A

The purpose of suffering and evil will become apparent in the afterlife.

64
Q

What are some possible criticisms of Hick’s theodicy?

A
  • Do people really develop and mature spiritually with age? Some older people are awful.
  • Is suffering worth it? Massacre of innocents?
  • Animal suffering, who benefits from that?
  • Unjust? Hick is suggesting that everyone is saved in the afterlife, what about evil people?
65
Q

Irenaeus is the ______ of soul-making theodicy.

A

The ‘Patron Saint’.

66
Q

What is Irenaeus’ book where he talks of the problem of evil?

A

‘Against Heresies’.

67
Q

What two words is theodicy made from?

A

Theos- God
Dicy- Justification

68
Q

Who was the first person to use the term theodicy?

A

Leibniz

69
Q

Who is responsible for moral evil?

A

Humans

70
Q

Who is responsible for natural evil?

A

God

71
Q

What is the doctrine called of the corruption of humans?

A

Doctrine of Original Sin

72
Q

Who argues that natural evil is also down to humans?

A

Augustine.
Natural evil is the continued punishment for Original Sin.

73
Q

Give an example of privatio boni?

A
  • Blindness is an absence of sight.
  • Poverty is an absence of wealth.
74
Q

Under Privatio boni, how does Augustine justify that God was not responsible for evil?

A

Evil is not a thing, simply an absence of good.
God not responsible for creating evil.

75
Q

According to Augustine, why are things created in diversity and variety?

A
  • God created everything with a ‘variety of grace’.
  • Variety leads to evil, some people have less grace than others.
  • But does not explain why.
76
Q

How does Augustine justify that God created a ‘perfect world’?
How does this differ from Plato?

A

God describes everything he creates as ‘good’ he creates, then after creating humans, describes entire creation as ‘very good’.

77
Q

What is Augustine’s theodicy described as by modern philosophers?

A

‘Soul-deciding’
Actions and choices in life determine where your soul will go in the afterlife.

78
Q

What are the strengths of Augustine?

A
  • Justifies God’s omnipotence and omnibenevolence.
  • Omnibenevolence protected by privation of good.
  • Explains moral AND natural evil.
79
Q

What are the weaknesses of Augustine’s theodicy?

A
  • Doesn’t explain the variety of grace.
  • Relies too heavily on the absolute truth of Genesis.
  • We experience suffering as real, not simply as privatio boni. Makes evil seem too trivial.
  • Pessimistic view on human nature.
80
Q

How do ‘image’ and ‘likeness’ fit into Irenaeus’ theodicy?

A
  • Everyone born in God’s image.
  • Soul-making, we grow into likeness throughout our lives.
81
Q

Who created the ideology of soul-making for Irenaeus?

A

John Keats–> called life a ‘vail of soul-making’.
This develops your soul.

82
Q

What is the difference between Augustine and Irenaeus?

A

Augustine optimistic about human nature.
Irenaeus pessimistic.
Augustine–> world started perfect, evil came from natural sin.
Irenaeus–> world imperfect, necessary for us to grow into God’s likeness.

83
Q

Why is free will essential to Irenaeus?

A

Allows us to develop into the likeness of God.

84
Q

What does a consequentialist approach?

A

The end justifies the means.

Philosophy, ethics and religion. (48 decks)

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