Evil and suffering Flashcards
(32 cards)
What causes moral evil
Misuse of human reason and free will
What is natural evil
Evil that is not caused by human action
what is the logical problem of evil
the idea that god cannot be all loving, all powerful and allow evil
what is the evidential problem of evil
adds to the logical problem by considering god is all knowing of the considerable amount of suffering
give an overveiw of the Augustinian theodicy
God created a perfect world, however we fell from grace and allowed evil to enter the world hen adam and eve misused their free will. Therefore, evil did not come from god it came from humans
what does St Augustine believe about evil
It is a privation of Good. It is not a thing in itself.
What does Augustine believe about Jesus
God sent his son to die so that those who believed could be saved and given a new life. Man was redemed by christ
Critisisms of the Augustinian theodicy
if humans could choose evil it must have pre-exisited meaning god did not truely create the perfect world
existance of hell contradicts an all loving God
If God foresaw Adam’s choices why did he allow it?
It is ujust and unloving for all humanity to suffer for adams sin
Genisis is just symbolic
Give an overview of the ireanean theodicy
God deliberately created an imperfect world so humans could, through trail, become perfect beings. It is soul-making, therfore, suffering helps us develop into better human beings.
Give a quote from St irenaus
“A world without problems, difficulties, perils and hardships would be morally static”
Crisisms of the Irenean theodicy
Contradits Genisis - God made the perfect world
Suffering doesn’t always lead to positive development
Extremes of suffering- Is it necessary?
Love cannot be expressed by allowing suffering
Strengths of the ireanean theodicy
Doesn’t focus on original sin
Alligns with beings made in God’s image
Explains why god allows evil without discrediting his qualities
Accepts/ credits evil
supports evolution
give a quote from st paul to back the Ireanean theodicy
“suffering produces perserverence”
Give an overview on Hicks soul making theodicy
Believes pain is an instrumental good and provides opportunities for heroism of growth.
The world is a vale of soulmaking.
Explain epistemic distance
not knowing about god allows free will to be true as if we did know he was there human will would be more likely to choose the good due to feeling watched. Distance allows genunie freedom
Give a quote from hick
man is in the process of becoming the perfected being
Give some critisisms of hicks theodicy
is the goal of heaven worth the quantity of sufffering?
whats the point if everyone reaches salvation?
god is inconsistant ith his distance - revelation
goes against mainstreem doctrines of heaven and hell
describe hicks veiw on hell
hell is a second vale: another chance to improve. God is all powerful and will therefore evntually convince everyone to repent, allowing everyone salvation
Give an overview of the classic FWD
God allows free will to enusure we are truely autonomous and not robots. This leads to moral evil
Give an overview of Mackies FWD
it’s logically possible for humans to make free, good decisions all of the time. God could have created humans this way however, he did not, therfore, either one of the qualities of god must be denied or he does not exist.
what is a second order good?
the way we respond to suffering with kindness love and compassion. It maxamises first order goods and minimises effects of first order evils
describe plantingas three worlds
PW1: god gives morally significant free will. He doesn’t determine what is right. There is no evil (our world)
PW2: god does not give free will. He determines what is right. There is no evil (goodness of robots)
PW3: god gives morally significant free will. He determines what is right. There is no evil (Mackies world)
PW3 is logically impossible
give Plantingas responce to mackie
god couldn’t create people this way as it would mean our free will would not be morally significant. Most mothers would allow a child a small pain for a greater good. eg vaccination. God allows suffering in order to allow us the grester good of autonomy .
give a quote from platinga
persons with morally significnt free will is something of tremendous value
