THEME 3A- THE PROBLEM OF EVIL AND SUFFERING

• two types of evil

  moral evil and natural evil
• moral evil


  evil caused as a result of actions of a free-will agent
• natural evil 


  evil caused by the means of a force outside of the control of free-will agents
• example of natural evil 


  tsunamis, earthquakes
• example of moral evil 


  holocaust, murder
• epicurus quote for problem of evil 


  “is he neither able nor willing? then why call him god“
• who formulated the problem of evil into an inconsistent triad 


  J.L Mackie
• what is apart of the inconsistent triad

  1)god is omnipotent 2)god is omnibenevolent 3)evil exists
• what does mackie point out when observing the inconsistent triad?

  it is logically inconsistent for these three statements to exist simultaneously
• what is mackie’s ‘paradox of omnipotence’


  can an omnipotent being make things which he cannot subsequently control? or can an omnipotent being make rules which then bind himself?
• what does William Rowe say in his book ‘The problem of evil and some varieties of atheism’


  he can’t accept god allowing ‘intense suffering‘ e.g animal suffering therefore god does not exist
• Stephen Fry quote on intense suffering 


  “Bone cancer in children? How dare you!”
• what does Gregory S. Paul argue


  the death of so many innocent children challenges the existence of god e.g premature death