The problem of evil Flashcards
key philosophers - logical problem
Epicurus
The logical problem
Inconsistent triad
- God is omnipotent
- God is omnibenevolent
- Evil exists
These 3 statements cannot all be true
Logical problem solutions
Denying….
- God’s omnipotence
- God’s omnibenevolence, Freud wish-fulfilment. There is no omnibenevolent God, just the wish for one
- The existence of evil, Augustine, evil is just the lack of good
The evidential problem
The sheer quality and quantity of evil
This is made worse by God’s omniscience
Key philosophers - evidential problem
Dostoyevsky and William Rowe
Dostoyevsky
- Brothers karamazov
- Noice monk is visited by his brother Ivan
- Tells story of horse collapsing under the load and being whipped even when it appears to be begging for mercy
- Ivan concludes that God asks too high a price now for the harmony of heaven in the future
Rowe
- There exists instances of intense suffering that an omnipresent, omniscient being could have prevented
- An omniscient, omnibenevolent being would do this
- Therefore a being of this kind does not exist
Key philosopher - FWD
Mackie
Mackie’s FWD
- First order goods and evils
- Second order goods and evils seek to minimise or maximise these
- We have a free choice to do these
- But some people will reject the good and choose the evil instead
Mackie’s issue:
- Why couldn’t God have created us to always choose the good
Philosopher who responds to Mackie
Plantinga
Plantinga’s possible worlds
PW1: Free to choose and evil happens - our world
PW2: We are totally determined and no evil happens - pointless existence
PW3: Free will but are created to choose the good - logically impossible
Philosophers who explain natural evil
Plantinga
Swinburne
Hick
Plantinga natural evil
Adam and Eve’s sin
Swinburne
Death is essential as otherwise we would have infinite chances to choose the good
It also limits suffering and is part of the natural world
Hick
We must maintain an epistemic distance from God, we could not do this if he intervened
Hick’s soul making theodicy
- God created imperfect beings who had the capacity to grow and become ‘children of God’
- We must choose to love God freely so we need free will
- The world is a place of soul-making not soul-deciding, everyone will eventually go to heaven even if it takes many years and many levels of existence
- We must maintain an epistemic distance from God
Challenges to Hick
- Does not justify animal suffering
BUT epistemic distance and they need pain to warn them of danger - Pointless evils
BUT epistemic distance and if we could explain all evils we would have no faith or hope - Extent of worst evils
BUT it is a matter of degree
Process theology philosopher
Griffin
Process theology
- The text of genesis was mistranslated and God simply created order out of the universe
- The existing matter could oppose him
- Rejection of God’s omnipotence
- As the materials already in existence have power of their own
- God and the universe exist pantheistically and so God suffers along with his creation
Process theology - Diploar
God is dipolar
Physical pole - the material world
Mental pole
So God suffers with his creation
