Problem Of Evil Flashcards
(15 cards)
St Augustine’s view
Evil is privatio boni, it does not exist on its own, it is just the absence of good. There is no Problem of Evil
Evidential PoE
This PoE is entirely based upon what we observe about evil in the world. It aims to show that we have sufficient evidence to conclude that god does not exist
Evil is overwhelming in quantity and quality
From empirical evidence, we can conclude that there is a sheer amount of suffering in the world, given the amount that people suffer, god does not exist
E.g. holocaust 6 million Jews died
Mount Vesuvius pompeii, 1500 bodies ave been found, all of whom would have been burned alive
Why would god have designed a world that could inflict this amount of natural evil without any apparent reason
Why thoedicies cant justify the quantity and quality of evil
Evil to this scale cannot be justified while an all-loving, all-powerful god still exists
Pointless evil
The evidential PoE claims there is far too much pointless suffering for it to be purposelfu, or allowed by an all loving powerful god
William roses fawn analogy
A fawn is trapped in a forest fre, horribly burned and lies in agony for several days before death finally relieves its suffering.
The fawns death appears to be pointless, it suffers and dies alone and it leads to no greater good or spiritual development like developing virtues
What dies the evidential PoE suggest about gods omniscience
If god is all knowing, as well as omnipotent and omnibenevolent, then he does not need to test us, cuz He knows the outcomes of these trials he is putting us thru
What can we not deny
We cannot deny clause 4 of the logical and evidential PoE as we have empirical evidence that evil exists
And to deny any of gods qualities would lose the essence of god
Mother Julian’s quote
“All will be well”
Sin is inevitable but that’s fine. Everything will be fine in the end
St Paul’s quote
Nothing will be worth compared to the “glory that is going to be revealed to us”
Ian Brady
Tortured and murdered 5 children and buried them on the outskirts of Manchester
Irving Greenberg
Nothing will justify the burning and torture of innocent children
Some evils cannot be explained or justified.
People should not attempt to justify innocent beings being tortured completely undeservedly in the manner people were during the holocaust.
What do theoicies only work for
Minor evil e.g. someone stealing your chocolate or lunch
Why does imago dei be problematic fir religious people when faced w the existence of moral evil
We are all made to mirror gods goodness, howver w empirical evidence of murders it would suggest that not all people are created in his image
Natural evil definition
Evil produced by the chance operation of the laws of nature, without it having any intention. It is what the world does to us thru thing like diseas, floods starvation
2024, east Africa was hit by floods affecting 1.3 million people and 470 deaths
