Key Words Flashcards
What is evil?
Something that lacks goodness and has not fulfilled its natural purpose
Moral evil
results from human actions
Natural evil
results from the natural world
Theodicy
technical name given to an attempt to justify the existence of God in the face of evil
Ex nihilo
From nothing
Vardy’s Parable
In his book ‘The Puzzle of Evil’ he suggests a parable: a King is in love with a peasant girl. Because of his status and power he is able to demand her love but then it would not be genuine. This analogy links to our relationship with God; he wants us to want to have a relationship
Counter: this analogy is arguably flawed because the King is in the world and can develop a relationship with the girl. The girl can see him but God is transcendent, making it much harder to feel his love
Antony Flew
He criticises the free will defence on the basis of the very meaning ‘free will’. God could have created a possible world in which all humans had a nature that was good, and yet in which they were free in Flew’s sense
Counter: However, what would be the difference between Flew’s ‘naturally good people’ and puppets who had been created always to act in a good way?
Platinga
thinks that the existence of evil is compatible with a wholly good and all powerful God
D.Z. Philips
criticises Hick’s theodicy on the grounds that you cannot justify evil for its instrumental use i.e. fir its usefulness
He rejects any theodicy that claims that evil is character building; can suffering ever truly be justified?
