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The Problem of Evil

The Problem of Evil. The Relationship of Good and Evil. Dualism: Good and Evil are opposing forces, both having real existence Zoroaster, Mani Monism: God is the only true power Isaiah 45: “I make the light; I create darkness, author alike of prosperity and trouble” Augustine, Aquinas.

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The Problem of Evil

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  1. The Problem of Evil

  2. The Relationship of Good and Evil • Dualism: Good and Evil are opposing forces, both having real existence • Zoroaster, Mani • Monism: God is the only true power • Isaiah 45: “I make the light; I create darkness, author alike of prosperity and trouble” • Augustine, Aquinas

  3. The Problem of Evil • A problem for the monist (Aquinas, Anselm, and Paley) • The only power is the good power • The traditional Judeo-Christian conception of God: • All powerful • All good • All knowing

  4. Two kinds of evil • The suffering that arises from human choices • (human sin and its consequences) • The suffering that results from events in the natural world • Animal suffering not caused by humans • Suffering that results from natural disasters

  5. The argument • God = the all-PKG being • If God is all-powerful, He can prevent evil • If God is all-good, He does not wish for evil to occur • If God is all-knowing, He knows about evil’s existence, and knows how to prevent it

  6. But evil exists

  7. Therefore, the all-PKG being does not exist • Possible responses to this argument: • Evil does not exist (seems implausible) • God exists, but is not all-PKG (plausible) • A theodicy (reject the argument)

  8. Theodicy • Coined by Leibniz as a name for a solution to the problem of evil • Theos = god • Dike = righteous, just

  9. Augustine: three responses Some natural evil is really instrumental good • E.g. going to the dentist • (and thus isn’t really evil) Some natural evil exists as “privation” or “corruption” • The “failure” of a corruptible being (e.g. blindness) • This is really the absence of good, not an “existence”

  10. Augustine’s third response Moral evil comes about because of the fall of angelic and human beings • The “free-will defense” • For Augustine, Adam was free to not sin, but did • We are now slaves to sin, and the suffering that results from it

  11. Problems for Augustine? • The “self-creation” of evil: how did evil first enter the universe? • Hell as eternal torment: what possible purpose could this serve?

  12. Aquinas and ‘Double Effect’ • Unintended evil results from pursuit of the good • God always pursues the good • Therefore evil is always a ‘double effect’, not intended by God • And since evil is always a ‘lack’ (a non-existence of some good), God does not bring it about (except in pursuit of divine justice)

  13. So why is there ‘evil’? • In the moral realm • the deprivation of one good for the sake of another as a result of the free will of human beings • Also, as the punishment of sin (willed by God) • In the natural world • the deprivation of one good for the sake of another in the natural world

  14. Problems for Aquinas? • In the moral realm • If we always in fact pursue the good we perceive, can we really sin? Aren’t we just in error when we do something wrong? • In the natural world • How are phenomena like animal pain and natural disasters justified by the doctrine of double effect?

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