The Problem Of Evil Flashcards
(23 cards)
The logical problem of evil
JL Makie
- A priori + analytic argument
- Deductive
- 3 statements that cannot logically all be true at the same time without contradiction
=God is Omnipotent
=God is Omnibenevolet
=Evil exists
Premise 1- If God was Omnipotent ‘he’ would be able to stop evil
Premise 2- If God was Omnibenevolent ‘he’ would want to stop evil
Premise 3- Evil exists
Conclusion- So either God isn’t Omnipotent, Omnibenevolent or ‘he’ does not exist
David Hume
“The problem of evil is the rock of atheism”
-logically inconsistent
The evidential problem of evil
William Rowe
God may be able to tolerate some evils because they serve a greater good
Premise 1- There is at least 1 instance, in all probability, of suffering that is completely pointless eg a fawn in a forest fire
Premise 2- If there was a God, ‘he’ would not have allowed any completely pointless instance of suffering
Conclusion- So, it is quite probable that God does not exist
Advantages of the logical problem of evil
- 2 clear conclusions = God either does or does not exist (definite) if the premises are correct
Disadvantages of the logical problem of evil
- Doesn’t use evidence to provide a conclusion
- You only have to prove 1 premise wrong for the argument to be invalid such as God just looking at the bigger picture
Advantages of the evidential problem of evil
- Burden of proof is less severe
=Only suggests probable conclusions
=Don’t worry about faults with a premise
Disadvantages of the evidential problem of evil
- Cannot prove God doesn’t exist/ conclusions
St Augustine theodicy
- The vindication (clear of blame) of divine providence (God cares and protects) in view of the existence of evil
- The clearing of God’s goodness in the existence of evil in the world
=We can’t blame God for evil as ‘he’ still cares and protects
Strengths of the St Augustine theodicy
- Supports God’s attributes
- Explains where natural evil comes from
- Explains evil is not a thing
- God doesn’t need to do anything about evil because ‘he’ created a perfect world and it was humanities fault
Weaknesses of the St Augustine theodicy
- Evolution suggests we are not all descendants from 1 man
- Fallen angels??? (Plate boundaries etc) manipulated by angels
- Evil is more than just an absence of something
St Augustine theodicy quote
~o
“We are all seminally present in Adam’s loin”
- We all share in the evil nature caused by Adam and Eve
How did sin enter the world
St Augustine
Free will
- God gave humans free will in which was abused by Adam and Eve in the fall which brought original sin into the world
- This brought evil in our human nature and creation
Who was St Augustine???
- He was around in the 5th Century
- He witnessed the weakening of society through corruption
What does Augustine say about evil???
- Evil is the absence of goodness like darkness is the absence of light
God is all loving because…
Augustine
- He gave us Free will
- God created a perfect world
- He didn’t make evil (isn’t the cause)
Evil is the consequence of an action
To Augustine God is justified in not stopping evil because…
- ‘He’ didn’t create evil
- Evil isn’t a thing only an absence
- Evil is a natural consequence of doing wrong
Irenaean theodicy
- Humans are created ‘in Gods image’ but not in his ‘likeness’
- To become like God we must endure pain and suffering (life is a learning curve)
- We need evil to appreciate goodness
- God is the author of evil and suffering
- Not a fair distribution of evil and suffering on earth so carries on once you die
- Heaven and Hell are places where people continue to learn and improve
Irenaean theodicy quote
“let us make man in our image, after our likeness”
=’our’ talking about the trinity (father, son and holy spirit)
=So we are similar yet differ to God
2 stage process to be made in God’s image and then grow to be more like God
Peter Vardy on the Irenaean theodicy
-Free will is important to the Irenaean theodicy
-Parable of the king who is in love with the peasant girl
=The King can demand love
=Girl could manufacture feelings for the King but they would not be genuine
=The King could not force her to give genuine love
-We have Free Will so we are not robots or controlled and we choose love towards God and not faking it
Strengths of Peter Vardy + Irenaeus
- Allows everyone to be responsible for evil actions
- Get to become God-like over time
Weaknesses of Peter Vardy and Irenaeus
- Not all suffering makes us stronger like pointless suffering
- Suffering like murdering your child is their abuse of Free Will yet you suffer
John Hick and his Irenaean theodicy
- John Hick believes evil makes us better people because it has instrumental value
- Evil brings what is good to a situation to better people to become more like God
- All humans are in a vale of soul making and some suffer more than others for reincarnation to be able to go to the Heavenly realm
=As a result there is an epistemic distance between humans and God
Hick and universal salvation
- Hick believes that all people go to Heaven
- However they do this by going through a place like Hell full of temporary suffering and evil so we can undergo preparation for eternal glory with God which further opportunity is given for soul-making
- This place is called purgatory
