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Evil And Suffering Flashcards

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1
Q

Moral evil

A

Evil acts committed by humans

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2
Q

Natural evil

A

Naturally occurring evil beyond humans control

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3
Q

Natural evil examples

A

Hurricanes
Earthquakes
Floods

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4
Q

Moral evil examples

A

Bullying
Rape
Murder

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5
Q

Genesis and evil

A

Adam and Eve brought moral sin by disobeying God

Punished by a flood - natural evil

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6
Q

What are the two problems of evil

A

Logical

Evidential

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7
Q

What is the logical problem of evil

A

The problem that God and evil cannot exist at the same time

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8
Q

What is a God of classical Theism

A

What we expect God to be like

Omnipotent, omnibenevolent and omniscient

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9
Q

Three important scholars for logical problem of evil

A

Epicurus
Hume
Mackie

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10
Q

What did Epicurus say for the logical problem of evil

A

Is God willing to prevent evil but not able then he is not omnipotent
is he able but not willing then he is not malevolent is he both able and willing then whence evil

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11
Q

What did David Hume say about logical problem of evil

A

Either God is not omniscient/omnipotent
Or God is not omnibenevolent
Or evil does not exist
Since evil exists, God does not.

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12
Q

What did Mackie create for logical problem of evil

A

Inconsistent Triad
God is (a) omniscient/omnipotent and (b) omnibenevolent
However (c) evil exists
Therefore either (a) or (b) must be logically inconsistent and therefore wrong

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13
Q

What are the three solutions to the logical problem of evil

A

Denying Gods omnipotents
Denying Gods omnibenevolence
Denying evil exists

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14
Q

What is the solution to denying Gods omnipotence

A

If God is not omnipotent than the solution is simple he is not able to control evil and so cannot be blamed for its continued existence

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15
Q

What is the problem to denying Gods omnipotence

A

God who is not omnipotent would not be worthy of worship

A none omnipotent God would not be a God

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16
Q

What is the problem of denying Gods benevolence

A

Unthinkable

God is good and loving is a support to those who experience evil and the basis of future hope for life in heaven

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17
Q

Quote to show Gods omnibenevolencew

A

God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes

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18
Q

Solution to denying evil exists

A

Proposed by Augustine

Evil is privation of Good doesn’t exist in its own right but in absence of good

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19
Q

Problem to denying evil exists

A

Insensitive

This who have experienced power of evil see it as being as Tangible as goodness

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20
Q

What is the evidential problem of evil

A

Evil that is overwhelming in quantity and quality

Unnecessary/ pointless evil

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21
Q

How is the problem of evil made worse

A

Gods omniscience

He knows and still allows evil and suffering to continue

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22
Q

Natural evil example of the sheer amount of evil

A

Permion Triassic extinction

90% marine 70% land species disappeared via natural disasters including asteroid strike

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23
Q

Quote for permion Triassic extinction

A

NASA “almost the perfect crime”

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24
Q

William Rowes metaphors for pointless evidential problem of evil

A

Fawn died in forest fire cause we by lightening strike
Burnt in pain and agony for several days
Pointless suffers and dies alone
No human knows so no good can come from it
How can God still be omniscient

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25
What is free will
Human beings free to make one choices in life
26
Free will defence
God had given up control over human actions in order to bring about greater good Humans choose own actions and so morally responsible for those actions
27
What is genuine free will
``` Need all three Permission Ability Opportunity Take away one of these and free will in relation to God is an illusion ```
28
To defend the FWD you have to prove…
Free will necessarily leads to moral evil - intrinsically linked Results of having free will are worth the price
29
Criticisms of FWD
Mackie says”: Logically possible for God to make human race both free and good God didn’t do this therefore he isn’t a God of classical Theism or he doesn’t exist
30
Response to Mackie a criticism of the free will defence
Logically inconsistent point | God can’t do the logically impossible to make someone both free and always do good is contradictory
31
What was Mackie account of the FWD
3rd order good - god gave us free will 2nd order good - our action 1st order good - feelings if good or bad
32
Who is Mackie
An atheist
33
Who is Swinburne
British philosopher | Philosophical arguments on the existence of God
34
Swinburne on the free will defence
Logically necessary for human development we have the freedom to choose both good and evil
35
How did Swinburne Contradict himself
Believed God could perform miracles | So why doesn’t he intervene in the immense evil for example the Holocaust
36
What does Swinburne say the problem of evil is
Humans abusing their God-given free well
37
For Swinburne why does God allow us to have free will
Moral and natural evil are necessary for human development Freedom to make choice between good and evil God chooses to allow free will so we can live enriches life Gif plan
38
Libertarianism
We have a degree free well so we can be held morally responsible for our actions
39
Casual determinism
Every action or event has been determined by a prior action or event so humans don’t have free well
40
Who is Alvin plantinga
American Philosopher
41
Planting as criticism to Mackies criticism of the free will defence
You clearly would never be free at all never free to choose | must have a real choice between options
42
Three points to Augustinian theodicy
Gods goodness and the goodness of the world Original sin Evil as a privation
43
Who developed the Augustinian theodicy
At Augustine | Early Christian and philosopher and theologian
44
What is theodicy
An argument that suggests God is right to allow the existence of evil and suffering because in some way or another they are necessary
45
Augustinian theodicy | Gods goodness and the goodness of the world
``` God is good God created a perfect world “so what I made and it was good” evil did not come from God God made a perfect world evil comes from decisions made by humans ```
46
Augustinian Theodicy Original sin
Humans lost immortality and felt consequences of misusing free will Adams descendants inherited first sin Punished for our immoral doings Seminally present - sperm of Adam passes original sin on
47
Augustinian Theodicy | Evil is a privation
Evil isn’t really a thing in itself Absence of good Privatio buni
48
Three criticisms of Augustinian theodicy
Moral Logical Scientific
49
Moral criticism of Augustinian theodicy
Not fair | Why should we be paying for the mistakes of Adam
50
Logical criticism of the Augustinian Theodicy
If God created perfectly good world could never go wrong humans are able to choose between evil So evil must’ve existed in the first place God didn’t make a perfect world then therefore God is to blame for evil and suffering
51
Scientific criticism of Augustinian theodicy
Nature - survival of fittest things dies so others can live. God must have made it this way Belief of Genesis challenges evolution Seminally present in Adam - no dna helix for original sin
52
Strengths of Augustinian theodicy
Explains why we have desire to do wrong - original sin | Gods omnibenevolent - Jesus’ crucifixion + gods plan
53
Weaknesses of Augustinian theodicy
God is unjust by allowing humans to be punished by Adams sin Existence of hell contradicts omni benevolent God Hell being a part of the universe design shows that God knew there be evil in the world so why would he still allow it to happen Not reasonable to say that evil is not a thing
54
Soul making
Suffering ultimately makes people develop into better human beings
55
Who is Saint Iranaeus
Early church father
56
What is the irenaean theodicy
God deliberately created an imperfect world So humans could develop into perfect beings So evil and suffering are apart of gods plan for humanity
57
Strengths of the iranaean theodicy
Biblical based mankind made in image of God so support by Christians Shows why God allows evil. God can’t compromise our development by intervention Evil is necessary and worth it Provided a goal to strive for Gradually develop - evolution
58
Criticism of iranaean theodicy
Suffering does not always result in positive human development can cause misery love can never be expressed by allowing suffering to happen why does God allow the suffering of the innocent
59
What is an epistemic distance
God keeps his distance from humanity in order to not overwhelm them
60
Counterfactual hypothesis
I’ve got interferes than humans cannot develop
61
Who is hick
Philosophy of religion and theologian
62
Who was Hicks inspired by
Agrees with iranaeus point that humans were not made imperfectly in the beginning we have the ability to develop spiritually by God
63
Hicks theory
God allows humans to develop themselves If God made us perfect then we would have the goodness of robots God wants humans to be genuinely loving and therefore give them free will
64
And Hicks argument why is there a distance between God and humans
If God interfered humans wouldn’t be to make free choices and wouldnt benefit from the development process Counter factual hypothesis God created humans are an epistemic distance from himself a distance of knowledge
65
List objections to hicks theodicy
Does not address animal suffering as they cannot develop spiritually epistemic distance doesn’t resolve pointless evil it doesn’t justify the worst evils
66
Hicks response to his theodicy not addressing animal suffering
Pain warns animal of danger animals do not fear death animals exist to stop us from realising our special nature and they have to suffer to an extent that is beyond our understanding
67
Hicks responding to the criticism of the epistemic distance not resolving pointless evil
Gods plan remains a mystery in order for us to freely choose a relationship with him
68
Hicks response to the criticism of his theodicy not justifying the worst evils
If the worst evils be removed then something else would become the worst evil the more evil remove the less free we will be
69
Hicks quotes on his theodicy
Vale of soul making | Not to be robots
70
Who is whitehead
English philosopher
71
Who is griffin
Took the process of theology and turned it into a process theodicy American philosopher
72
In a nutshell what is process theology
Belief that God is not omnipotent the world isn’t creation Ex nihilo  University is continually part of the unfolding process of creation God is apart of creation
73
Whiteheads quote
The fellow sufferer who understands
74
Grifffins quote
It is necessarily the case that God cannot completely control the creatures
75
Criticisms of process theodicy
Denies God is omnipotent - worth worship? Not omnibenevolent - can’t be as he doesn’t know everyone’s Allows suffering and wrong doing Animals don’t understand why they suffer - means nothing to them that God is a fellow sufferer Abandons Christian concepts of creation Why did he start a process he can’t control
76
Strengths of process theodicy
God doesn’t stop suffering because he can’t God suffers which is encouraging that he is going through the same thing as us No certainty God will triumph in the end so why join the fight God is not transcendent so cannot intervene to eliminate evil God did not create the universe out of nothing but chaotic matter
77
What is process theodicy 
Pantheistic belief Gods soul is the universe The world is connected with God He’s only partly involved with creation He does not process total control he is persuasive 

Philosophy ALEVEL (3 decks)

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