1
Q
What are the types of evil
A
- Moral evil - caused by free will
- Natural evil - caused by nature
2
Q
What is the logical problem of evil (Epicurus)
A
- if the universe was created by God who is all-loving, all-powerful and all-knowing how can things in the universe go wrong?
- why do human beings who are created by God suffer?
3
Q
Inconsistent triad (Mackie)
A
- formed by Mackie
- God is omnipotent, omni-benevolent and evil exists
- he states it’s not logically possible for these 3 statements to exist simultaneously
- if God was omnipotent he would have the power to remove evil
- if God was omni-benevolent then in his loving kindness he would remove evil do his creation don’t suffer
4
Q
Mackie’s development
A
- Mackie says the solution to this problem is to remove one point from the inconsistent triad
- if we remove omnipotent, we know God is all loving but doesn’t have the power to remove evil
- if we remove omni-benevolent then God doesn’t need to remove evil because he doesn’t love his creation
- if we remove evil, then there’s no contradiction for the believers
5
Q
Challenge to mackie’s development
A
Just because God is all loving and all powerful why should he remove evil, what if evil serves a purpose that we are unaware of
6
Q
William Rowe’s challenge
A
- didn’t accept God allowing intense suffering
- animal suffering seemed pointless
- he argues - an all powerful and all loving being would know when intense suffering was about to take place and could prevent it from happening
- an all loving and powerful being would prevent all evil and suffering that has no purpose
- however such pointless evil does happen
- therefore God doesn’t exist
7
Q
Gregory Paul
A
- he argues - millions of innocent children suffer and die every day from natural and evil causes
- these children are too young to be able to make choices about God - they have no free will
- no all loving, all powerful being would permit such suffering
- therefore, God doesn’t exist
8
Q
Augustinian theodicy
A
- he believed Gods creation was officially free from evil, but it first came to existence when humans misused their free will to turn away from God
- he uses the example of Adam and Eve as they disobeyed God and are ancestors of humans
- all human beings share Adam and Eve’s sin, so they deserve to be punished with evil - moral evil
- Humans have free will so if they choose to do evil that are responsible for that - not God
- This is because humans voluntarily choose to do sin
- God doesn’t intervene and get rid of evil because it takes away free will
- evil indicates a privation of part of Gods created order
- he refers to darkness as a metaphor for evil but darkness as in the absence of light - evil has no real being of its own
9
Q
Challenges to the Augustinian theodicy
A
- an all loving God would not punish humans for the action of Adam and Eve - scientific error - it is biologically impossible for all humans to descend from Adam and Eve
- if a good world was already created how is there knowledge good and evil and why is it necessary for the free will of humanity? - this implies evil already existed and this is because of God
- why would an all loving God create hell? God knew about evil and sin
- perfection is immutable- it cannot change - how can a prefect creation be less perfect - why are humans not flawless?
- God is omniscient so he would have known in advance that angels and humans would rebel and fall therefore, he is responsible for evil existing
10
Q
Irenaean theodicy
A
- he claimed that the presence of evil in the world is a deliberate action of an all loving God who wanted his creation to develop qualities to make them develop spiritually
- he regard this life as a place where human beings develop their potential and grow front he image to the likeness of God
- evil is necessary facet of life that enables humans to develop
- without evil decisions would have no value - for example: you would appreciate being in good health of you never experienced illness
- John hick developed this theodicy and described it as soul making
- he says God didn’t create humans as perfect beings because goodness developed through free will is more valuable than goodness that is ready made
- also it would restrict choices if humans knew certainly that they are always a being watched over
11
Q
Challenges to the irenaean theodicy
A
- suffering is not equally spread - implies inconsistency with Gods mechanism of perfection
- does the end justify the means? The suffering experienced
- if a child dies at a young age, how does it develop their soul?
- however, it could be to teach the parents a lesson
- however, a loving God wouldn’t punish the child just to teach the parents a lesson
“Then God said, “let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness” (Genesis)
12
Q
Freud
A
- He was the founder of psychoanalysis which investigated the role of the unconscious mind
- he tried to explain religious belief and behaviour through scientific processes
- he though that for society to be stable it required people to consciously control their ego
- he thought religion was an infantile and overly-repressive method of controlling ourselves
- he claimed that religious behaviour and ritual was similar to obsessional neurosis involving repeated actions
- he theorised that this was a way of controlling repressed impulses
13
Q
The primal horde
A
- Ancient society involved an alpha-male who controlled the women and resources. The other men killed the alpha-male, desiring women and resources, but soon started to fight amongst each other and came to realise there was a usefulness in the social order they previously had.
- They began worshiping a totem which represented the alpha-male and the spirit or self control for the sake of social order. The totem eventually became a God like figure in their minds
- Totem rituals morphed into the rituals we see in modern religion like Christianity.
14
Q
The Oedipus complex
A
Based on the idea that babies are jealous of the attention the parents of the opposite sex gets from their other parent. This can cause relationship issues throughout life.
15
Q
Critique of Freud
A
- he presents a plausible scientific account of religious belief and practice which makes the supernatural explanation of it an unnecessary hypothesis
- however Freud is unscientific - didn’t do proper experiments, studied a very small sample size of people and a poor cross-section of society. Popper said Freuds theory was unfalsifiable - not eel science because we can’t test whether or not it is false
- there is no anthropological evidence for the primal horde
- no evidence for the Oedipus complex
- however arguably Freud is at least somewhat correct that religion has the psychological function of enabling social order. It is full of commands to not do violence and not have sex outside marriage.
- however Freud seems wrong to completely reduce religion to a primitive means of social order it is also important for people happiness, meaning and purpose - their spirituality
- Jung would disagree with Freud - having a more optimistic view of religion as playing an important role in psychological development
16
Q
Jung
A
- he discovered ideas and images in patients dreams which could not be traced to their past experiences
- he saw links between these images to mythical and religious themes
- he concluded that we have a ‘collective unconscious’ which contains primordial images and themes which structure and provide narrative to our conscious understanding of our life and world
- the persona (the mask we wear)
- the shadow (suppressed parts of our personality)
- anima and animus (out inner attitudes that take on the characteristics of the opposite sex)
- the self ( mid point between consciousness and the unconscious)
- the God within. God is an expression of the collective unconscious. The self is the God within us, which is why God Is presented as a being
- individuation is the process of achieving self-realisation and discovery of our true self
17
Q
Critiques of Jung
A
- he claimed to be an empiricist, basing his theory of archetypes on observation of his patients dreams and visions
- however, interpreting dreams and visions is subjective and not scientific
- traditional Christians might argue that Jung’s focus on the self is narcissistic and typical of western secularism with its focus on individualism. True spiritual realisation is achieved by helping others like Jesus did, not through self-absorbed self-discovery. Jung has therefore failed to capture the true essence of Christianity with his overly reductive psychology that is merely expressive of his cultural perspective
- however, arguably Christianity is focused on a selfish desire to get into heaven so it’s no better even if it’s correct that Jung’s theory is narcissistic
18
Q
Atheism
A
- weak atheism = does not believe in God but equally did not assert that no God exists
“ I don’t believe that God exists but tell me why you do believe in God?” - strong atheism = asserts that God does not exist
“ God does not exist, and here are my reasons. So why do you believe in God”
19
Q
Agnosticism
A
- weak agnosticism = God may or may not exist but judgment has to be withheld until evidence becomes available
“I don’t know whether God exists or not, but maybe you do” - strong agnosticism = it is impossible to know whether or not God exists
“ I don’t know whether God exists or not, and neither do you”
20
Q
Criticisms of religion by New atheism
A
- the attack on the twin towers was one of the triggers for new atheism, a movement that saw not just religious extremists but religion in general as dangerous and deluded
- four people (the four horsemen) have been the key voices of new atheism- Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett and Christopher Hitchens
- new atheism claims that faith and religion are irrational. Religious people are seen as non-thinking and infantile
- they accuse adults of forcing belief in God upon children to be brought up to believe unquestioningly. Such non-thinking leads to fanaticism. Atheists have done evil things but not because of atheism but for other reasons
- religion impedes scientific progress since blind faith and religious fundamentalism subvert science by running away from evidence
- it teaches people not to change their minds so it saps intellect
21
Q
Religious responses to new atheism
A
- new atheism is accused of attacking lazy caricatures or degenerate forms of religion and ignores the mainstream reality
- Alister McGrath points out that both science and religion involve showing that there are good reasons for thinking something is right without having total confirmation
Philosophy
flashcards
Decks in class (4)
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