Chapter 7 Problems of evil Classifying evil Natural

Chapter 7: Problems of evil

Classifying evil Ø Natural and moral ØMoral evil: evil which results from a moral agent misusing his or her freewill such that the agent is blameworthy for it. It includes human actions as well as character traits. ØNatural evil: evil which results from natural phenomena and is not brought about by the free will of a moral agent. It includes natural disasters and certain human illnesses.

Classifying evil (continued) Ø Horrendous and gratuitous ØGratuitous evil: evil in the form of suffering that is preventable and pointless. Examples: a woman diagnosed with cancer; a daughter killed by her mother’s automobile; a fawn trapped in a fire. ØHorrendous evil: evil which, when experienced by someone, gives that person reason to doubt that their life, as experienced, could be taken to be a great good for them on the whole. Example: a woman who is raped, dismembered, starved, and forced to choose which of her children will die at the hands of terrorists.

The logical problem of evil 1. If God exists, then God is all-powerful, all 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. knowing, and wholly-good An all-powerful being would have the power to eliminate evil An all-knowing being would have the knowledge to eliminate evil A wholly-good being would have the desire to eliminate evil An all-powerful, all-knowing, and whollygood being would eliminate evil Evil exists Therefore, God does not exist

Objections Ø Draper’s objection: establishing that the existence of a particular evil and the existence of God are incompatible cannot be accomplished Ø Plantinga’s free will defense: it is possible that God would desire to create a world which contains evil if moral goodness requires free moral creatures

The probabilistic problem of evil Shortened form: 1. If an all-knowing, all-powerful, and wholly -good God exists, then such a God could and would create the best of all possible worlds 2. Due to the existence of evil in the world, it is improbable that this is the best of all possible worlds 3. Thus, it is improbable that God exists

Objections Ø Leibniz’s lapse: if persons have libertarian free will then there are certain worlds that even an all powerful being could not create Ø There cannot be a best of all possible worlds, for we could always think of one more good thing to add to that world

Rowe’s evidential argument ARGUMENT 1. Large amounts of evil exist which God, an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent being, could have prevented without losing some greater good or permitting some equally bad or worse evil 2. God would have prevented the evils which exist, unless God could not do so without losing some greater good or permitting some equally bad or worse evil 3. Therefore, God does not exist OBJECTIONS Ø Ø Ø We cannot make moral judgments about God can use evil and suffering for our good Open theism and gratuitous evil are compatible

The existential problem of evil Ø Problem ØThe existential feel of certain kinds of evil sometimes leads to disbelief in God or religious belief in general Ø Reply ØThe problem is not an argument

Theodicies Theodicy: an attempt to justify God and God’s ways given the existence of evil in a world created by God. Ø Augustine’s Ø Hick’s ØA free will theodicy Irenaean (soul-making) theodicy process theodicy

Questions for discussion Which of theoretical problems of evil do you find most compelling? Are the solutions offered satisfactory? Explain. Ø Is evil a problem for the atheist? Why or why not? Ø Explore the way a particular non-theistic worldview accounts for evil and suffering. What are some similarities with this way of understanding evil and suffering and theistic descriptions? What are some differences? Ø