2A: Problem of evil and suffering Flashcards
1
Q
What is evil?
A
- anything that causes pain and suffering
2
Q
What are the two types of evil?
A
- moral evil: refers to evils that have come about as a direct result of human free-will choices. E.g. war, crime, prejudice, genocide etc
- natural evil: refers to evils caused by the natural state of things, e.g. earthquakes, tsunami and tornadoes, etc.
3
Q
What is the God of Classical Theism?
A
- God of western religions (Christianity, Judaism and Islam) and has all the perfect attributes inducing omnibenevolence and omnipotence
4
Q
What are the four Problem of Evil theories?
A
- Epicurus
- John Mackie
- William Rowe
- Gregory Paul
5
Q
Who was Epicurus?
A
- an Ancient Greek philosopher and a prolific writer who commented on a wide range of philosophical ideas
6
Q
What was Epicurus’ theory?
A
- usually credited as first PoE and sometimes referred to as ‘Epicurean Paradox’
- suggests if GIF is all-powerful and all-loving then why does so much evil exist?
- his theory is as follows
Q: if God can abolish evil, and really wants to, why is there evil in the world?
P1: if God wants to abolish evil, but cannot, he is impotent
P2: if God can abolish evil, but doesn’t want to, he is wicked
C: there is evil in the world and therefore God is either unwilling or unable to abolish evil. - Epicurus concludes his theory with ‘why call him God?’ Such an unloving or unpowerful being is not worthy of being called a God.
7
Q
Who was John Mackie?
A
- Australian philosopher, known for his work on meta-ethics and philosophy of religion
8
Q
What was Mackie’s theory?
A
- Mackie’s theory includes three statements:
1) God is omnipotent
2) God is omnibenevolent
3) evil exists - theory is referred to as the ‘inconsistent triad’. This is because all three propositions are inconsistent and cannot all be true at the same time. One mus5 be false if the other two are true.
- Mackie draws three conclusions:
1) God is omnipotent and omnibenevolent and evil doesn’t exist
2) God is omnipotent, but not omnibenevolent, and evil exists.
3) God is omnibenevolent, but not omnipotent, and evil exists
9
Q
Mackie - God is omnipotent and omnibenevolent and evil doesn’t exist:
A
- John Hick argues that is is only humanity’s limited capacity that evil exists, we only see suffering as evil as we cannot see God’s full picture. Suffering may be for a good reason
- however this idea is heavily criticised by philosophers such as Hume and Row due to the extent and severity of evil in the world.
10
Q
Mackie - God is omnipotent, but not omnibenevolent, and evil exists:
A
- maybe God has the power to abolish evil but doesn’t care about his fraction suffering. Or perhaps he even enjoys seeing it suffer.
- therefore this isn’t the God of Classical Theism being described.
11
Q
Mackie - God is omnibenevolent, but not omnipotent, and evil exists:
A
- maybe God wants to stop evil but it is beyond his power to do so.
- this is supported by the theory of ‘Process Theology’. This states that God started the universe but is now part of it and therefore is limited due to the physical constraints of the universe
12
Q
What is Mackie’s conclusion?
A
- due to the extent and severity of evil in the world, God cannot be both omnipotent and omnibenevolent.
- therefore he is either omnipotent or omnibenevolent and therefore isn’t the God of Classical Theism
13
Q
What is the Paradox of Omnipotence?
A
- Mackie claims all of these solutions ultimately rely on God limiting his own omnipotence.
- if God can create rules which bind himself then he has created rules which limit himself and therefore is no longer omnipotent.
- if God cannot create rules that bind himself, he is not omnipotent as he has limits and cannot do something.
- whichever solution is chosen, God cannot be omnipotent and therefore all solutions to PoE fail as they illustrate God as omnipotent which he isn’t.
14
Q
Who is William Rowe?
A
- American philosopher who characterised himself as a ‘friendly athiest’, accepting that Rheims coukd be justified even if God didn’t exist.
15
Q
What is Rowe’s theory?
A
- Rowe supports the idea of no God due to pointless intense suffering and animal suffering. This is known as ‘Evidential Problem of evil argument.
- Rowe segues that there are examples of justified evil, e.g. God chose not to intervene due to a greater cause coming for it (e.g. Sophie Lancaster Foundation) or some evil equally bad, or worse, would have resulted from it, (e.g. nuclear bombing in Japan stopped the land invasion of Japan)
- however there is unjustified evil in the world, e.g. pointless intense suffering (e.g. Holocaust or Rwanda genocide) and animal suffering (e.g. Ivory trade)
- Rowe concludes there is more unjustified evil than justified and therefore God is either cruel or non-existent.
