The Problem of Evil* Flashcards
Explain the problem of evil.
If there were a triomni god, then there wouldn’t be evil in the world.
There is evil in the world.
There is no triomni god.
Identify and present the standard defense to the problem.
Free-Will Defense
A universe with agents that have free-will is better than one without such agents.
Granting agents free-will allows the possibility of evil.
A universe with the possibility of evil is better than one without the possibility of evil.
A triomni god would choose to create a universe with the possibility of evil.
It is logically impossible to prevent evil while allowing the possibility of evil.
A triomni god cannot prevent evil.
Present a response to the defense.
It assumes that one can only make significant choices between good and evil, which is clearly false.
It commits the fallacy of Black-and-White Thinking; that god either allows no evil at all or allows the precise amount of evil that occurs in the universe.
