The problem of evil

Question 1

key philosophers - logical problem

Answer 1

Epicurus

Question 2

The logical problem

Answer 2

Inconsistent triad

• God is omnipotent
• God is omnibenevolent
• Evil exists

These 3 statements cannot all be true

Question 3

Logical problem solutions

Answer 3

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

Question 4

The evidential problem

Answer 4

The sheer quality and quantity of evil

This is made worse by God’s omniscience

Question 5

Key philosophers - evidential problem

Answer 5

Dostoyevsky and William Rowe

Question 6

Dostoyevsky

Answer 6

• 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

Question 7

Rowe

Answer 7

• 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

Question 8

Key philosopher - FWD

Answer 8

Mackie

Question 9

Mackie’s FWD

Answer 9

• 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

Question 10

Philosopher who responds to Mackie

Answer 10

Plantinga

Question 11

Plantinga’s possible worlds

Answer 11

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

Question 12

Philosophers who explain natural evil

Answer 12

Plantinga
Swinburne
Hick

Question 13

Plantinga natural evil

Answer 13

Adam and Eve’s sin

Question 14

Swinburne

Answer 14

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

Question 15

Hick

Answer 15

We must maintain an epistemic distance from God, we could not do this if he intervened

Question 16

Hick’s soul making theodicy

Answer 16

• 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

Question 17

Challenges to Hick

Answer 17

• 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

Question 18

Process theology philosopher

Answer 18

Griffin

Question 19

Process theology

Answer 19

• 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

Question 20

Process theology - Diploar

Answer 20

God is dipolar
Physical pole - the material world
Mental pole

So God suffers with his creation