The Free Will Defence

• The two premises of the Free Will Defense

  1. Free will necessarily leads to moral evil
  2. The results of having free will are worth the price of moral evil
• John Mackie


  • Author of The Miracle of Theism
  • Wasn't trying to prove the Free Will Defence
  • Atheist
• Mackie's free will defence

  • first order good/evil
  • second order good/evil
  • third order good
  • fourth order good
• First order good

  the experience in life of happiness or pleasure
• second order good

  exists to minimise first order evil
• first order evil

  the experience in life of misery or pain
• second order evil

  exists to maximise first order evil and minimise first order good
• third order good

  pain and suffering grant the chance to develop sympathy and spiritually and morally grow
• fourth order good

  god
• Mackie's rejection of the free will defence

  1. it is logically possible for a person to make free, good choices all of the time.
  2. god could of created humans so that they only make those choices
  3. god did not do so therefore; 1. either god lacks the power to do so or, 2. god is not loving enough to do so, 3. either way the free will defence fails. mackies conclusion is that;
  4. god does not exist.
• Alvin Plantinga


  • american philosopher
  • seeks to refute Mackie's claims
• To dispute mackie, plantinga has to:

  1. show it's logically impossible for God to have created humans so that they'd always, freely choose good
  2. provide a logically possible reason for God to allow evil