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Philosophy > The Problem of Evil > Flashcards

The Problem of Evil Flashcards

1
Q

What is natural evil?

A

Evil caused by nature.

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2
Q

What is moral evil?

A

Evil caused by humans.

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3
Q

Who created the inconsistent triad?

A

Atheist J.L. Mackie

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4
Q

What are five possible reasons that evil exists?

A

1) Our God is a deist god 2) The promise of the afterlife and eternal bliss makes up for our suffering 3) Evil is an illusion 4) God exists but we have his characteristics wrong 5) Suffering makes us stronger

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5
Q

How is the Devil used to explain natural evil?

A

Through the Devil “death entered the world”. He is a tempter.

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6
Q

Why does Swinburne believe that death is a necessary evil?

A

Death and birth have a limitless ability to improve the world.

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7
Q

Why did Swinburne reject the ‘toy world’?

A

A toy world is where nothing matters, where human actions don’t have consequences. Death sets a limit for the amount of pain we have.

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8
Q

What is Dostoyevsky’s strong argument in the novel ‘The brothers Karamazov’?

A

One of the brothers, Ivan, rejects God’s creation and is in rebellion against God. Says adults have “eaten the apple” so deserve to suffer but children are innocent. A blissful afterlife can’t justify this suffering.

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9
Q

What is a theodicy?

A

A response to the problem of evil.

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10
Q

What is the Augustinian theodicy?

A

1) evil is a privation of good just like darkness is an absence of light 2) evil didn’t come from the all-good God but from beings with free will i.e. angels and humans who turned their backs on God 3) the state of perfection was ruined by human sin and the delicate balance of the world was destroyed 4) when humans choose to disobey God they create an “absence of good” within themselves

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11
Q

What did Brian Davies argue?

A

That evil is not a substance but “a gap between what there is and what there ought to be”.

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12
Q

What is privatio boni?

A

As long as things live up to their God intended nature/purpose it remains perfect. Over time things can stop fulfilling their purpose. Incompleteness and imperfection enters. This takes the object away from God’s purpose- this is evil.

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13
Q

What does Schleimacher say about Adam and Eve?

A

If they were perfect why did they sin?

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14
Q

How could a perfect world go wrong?

A

Either the world was not perfect to begin with or God created a perfect world and then enabled it to go wrong.

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15
Q

What’s the problem of hell?

A

Augustine portrays hell as a part of God’s design of the universe so God must’ve anticipated that something would go wrong.

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16
Q

What is the Irenaean Theodicy?

A

An attempt to justify God and explain how the existence of suffering is compatible with an all-loving, all powerful God.

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17
Q

What are the central features in Irenaeus’ theodicy?

A

Believes that there are 2 stages in the creation of human beings 1) humans are created in the image of God 2) humans must GROW into the likeness of God. Genuine moral development is only possible in a world where pain and suffering are real.

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18
Q

What is universal salvation?

A

Process of soul making must continue after death because everyone makes it to heaven.

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19
Q

How did Hick adapt the Irenaen Theodicy?

A

Hick said that “soul making” described the process of moral growth. God’s intervention would undermine human freedom.

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20
Q

What is The Vale of Soul-making?

A

Hick presents his version of the Irenaen Theodicy in his book “evil and the God of love”.

If human perfection must be created by development, three things are required: 1) humans had to be created imperfect 2) humans had to be distanced from God 3) the natural world could not be paradise.

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21
Q

What is Hick’s epistemic distance?

A

A distance in the dimension of knowledge. Were God’s presence to be too close, humans would be overwhelmed by knowledge of God’s expectations.

22
Q

What are the lotus eaters?

A

Tenesee idea that without evil we drift.

23
Q

What is ‘death by 1000 qualifications’?

A

Definition of God changes so much that it makes it redundant.

24
Q

What does Spinoza say?

A

“In nature, there is no good and evil”

25
Q

What does Leibniz say?

A

“This is the best possible world”

26
Q

What does Mary Baker Eddy say?

A

“Evil is in the mind, once realise that there is no evil in reality, we will stop suffering”

27
Q

What is the dysteleological argument?

A

Created by Mill. Means without purpose. Nature is chaotic and has no purpose. Random.

28
Q

What’s the aesthetic argument?

A

Beauty requires both light and dark, and can often only be appreciated from afar.

29
Q

What’s a deist God?

A

A God that creates a universe and steps back- no longer intervenes.

30
Q

What is the difference between evil and suffering?

A

Suffering is when someone is affected by something but it could lead to something good. Evil is always bad.

31
Q

What is Cosmic Dualism?

A

Belief in 2 opposing Gods.

32
Q

What does Augustine mean by privation?

A

A lack of something.

33
Q

Why does Aquinas think that a theocentric view of evil solve the problem?

A

He’s putting God at the centre. Evil is just the absence of good.

34
Q

What did the Manichaens believe?

A

There is a dualistic battle of evil and good in the world.

35
Q

Why can nothing be wholly evil in the Thomist view?

A

We’re just imagining evil.

36
Q

What’s the analogy that Davies uses to describe how the goodness of God is mirrored in the world?

A

A baker is responsible for perfection of the bread but he isn’t the bread.

37
Q

What does Plantings mean by “transworld depravity”?

A

Another world where the people who live there always choose good.

38
Q

What 5 things does Vardy list as natural evils?

A
  1. Distress caused to animals 2. Suffering inflicted on human beings by earthquakes, volcanoes etc 3. Disorders to the human body like cancer 4. Normal pain like childbirth 5. Inherited psychological illnesses
39
Q

The Greeks and Christian Gnostics denied that God created matter and suggested that it was pre-existant and merely formed by God as the potter. What’s the implication?

A

God isn’t omnipotent.

40
Q

Some Jewish theologians claimed “any theology should be capable of being undertaken in the presence of burning children”. What do they mean?

A

Burning children is a great evil so whatever you say has to justify that.

41
Q

What does Augustine mean by saying that evil is privative and parasitic?

A

Privative- absence of good (don’t use ‘lack’). Parasitic- evil reduces good like a parasite.

42
Q

How does Augustine explain natural evil?

A

It’s punishment for human destruction of the planet.

43
Q

What is the difference between “absence” and lack?

A

Lack is like health issues but you’re not to blame. Absence is like not being generous. You’re to blame and generosity could’ve been there (weren’t incapable of giving it) but it isn’t.

44
Q

What does Augustine mean by infinite perfection?

A

God is the only thing that is perfect. We aim to be perfect like God.

45
Q

Why does Augustine think God created humans with free will?

A

If there was no free will there would be no good choices (e.g. choosing to marry).

46
Q

How does Augustine hold on to the belief that God is just, despite the evil in the world?

A

Only by creating evil could he create a world with good. Also Jesus suffered too.

47
Q

What does Augustine mean by privation?

A

Lack of something that they should have.

48
Q

What is a big criticism of Augustine’s theodicy?

A

If we were perfect why did Adam and Eve sin?

Supported by Schleimacher.

49
Q

By placing responsibility of evil on the devil what is Augustine doing for God?

A

Undermines his omnipotence. Also God is not the reason for our suffering.

50
Q

What’s Mackie’s criticism of the Augustinian theodicy?

A

God should be able to create free will humans that won’t sin.

Philosophy (5 decks)

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