The problem of evil

• the logical problem of evil


  the inconsistent triad-

  God cant be all loving and allow evil

  God cant be all powerful and allow evil

  
  

  p1: an omnipotent God can eliminate evil

  p2: an omnibenevolent God wants to eliminate evil

  p3: nothing can exist over an omnipotent and omnibenevolent being

  c1: evil, omnipotence and omnibenevolence form the IT so God and evil cannot coexist

  • a priori argument

  p4: evil exists bc we experience it

  c2: therefore God does not exist
• The evidential problem of evil


  A posteriori- evidence of evil makes belief in god unjustified

  • it is possible for a perfect god to exist that allows evil for loving reasons that are unknown to us but we have no evidence that god has these reasons

  p1: we are only justified in believing what evidence suggests

  p2: we only have evidence of imperfection

  c1: we are only justified in believing that imperfection exists

  c2: belif in perfectly good being is unjustified
• Augustine’s theodicy 


  humans have a natural predisposition to sin so humanity is the case of evil

  god is not responsible because evil cams from our free will

  evil doesnt exist it is just a privation of good
• Plantingas free will defence 


  Natural evil can be the result of:

  1. The free will of satan
  2. the free will of Adam and Eve

  p says that without free will our lives would be value-less so the universe is better having value and evil rather then no value

  p1: evil is the result of misused free will

  p2:god can’t remove evil without removing free will

  p3: life would be valueless without FW

  c1: therefore it is better for evil to exist

  c2: an all loving and all powerful God can therefore allow evil
• eval of Augustine 


  strength:it is logical that god would allow evil as it is related to sin

  the secret yet just judgement of god

  science supports human corruption- SPE

  
  

  weakness: it is not our fault we have OS so it is unjust and incompatible with an all loving god that we’d be punished eg.child with cancer cannot be labelled as justice for sinning

  Evil inclination may be due to upbringing and not innate
• Irenaeus theodicy 


  The fall was a necessary stage in the development towards perfection - punishment and evil is a way to help children mature