evil and suffering/FWD

what is moral evil?

• a result of humans making morally wrong decisions

what is natural evil?

• evil that exists in the world that is not caused by direct human actions or decisions - usually associated with natural decisions

what is an example of moral evil?

• murder eg. ted bundy

what is an example of natural evil?

• hurricane Katrina

what does the logical problem of evil relate to?

• the logical problem of evil relates to gods omnipotence and omnibonevolence

what does the evedential problem of evil relate to?

• it relates to gods omniscience

what are the three statements of the inconsistent triad?

• god id omnipotent

• god is omnibonelovent (all loving/all good)

• evil exists

is the logical problem a priori or a posteriori?

it is a priori

is the evidential problem a posteriori or a priori?

• it is a posteriori

what is a theodicy?

• the term ‘theodicy’ means the ‘justice of god’ but when applied to the problem of evil it is better to think of it as a ‘justification of evil’

• a theodicy is trying to explain the existence of evil whilst maintaining the qualities of the god of classical theism

what is free will?

• the idea that we have complete moral responsibility

explain how god can still have omnipotence relating to the FWD?

• god gave us free will but cannot do the logically impossible - we cannot simutanesly have free will and god intervene in the world

explain how god can still have omnibonevolenve relating to the FWD?

• god is loving as he created the best possible world that contains free will

explain hoe god can have omniscience relating to the FWD?

• god is knowledge as he for saw that we may misuse free will so he gave us guidance to helps (the Ten Commandments)

summarise the free will defence

• one of the key ideas from the FWD is that god has given up control in order to create a greater good - free will

• free will is so valuable that it is worth the price we pay. it is essential for developing qualities in humanity

• however, free will is not enough alone - we also need situations that require us to make decisions and see how we react

• pain is the stimulus for our decisions and development

• FW comes at a cost - genuine FW requires permission to do evil

• the possibilities to developing positive qualities is equal to the possibility of developing negative qualities

what two key ideas is free will based on?

• free will leads to moral evil

• results of having free will are worth the price payed of evil and suffering

what did swinburne say about death?

• we have to have death and suffering, in order for our moral choices to have an impact

what did john hick say about natural evil?

• “the evil that originates indipendently of human actions”

what did swineburne say about moral evil?

• “all evil caused deliberatly by humans doing what they aught not to do, or allowed to occur by humans negligently failing to do what they ought to do”

what does the logical problem argue?

• that the existance of evil makes the existance of god of a classical theism impossible

what did j.l mackie argue?

• in his ironic work ‘the mirical of theism’ ; “a wholly good being illiminates evilas far as it can”

• no loving god would allow his creation to suffer mentally or physically

what does the evidential problem argue?

• evil makes the exsistance of god improbable

what did william roe argue?

• “intense human and animal suffering” that “occours on a daily basis” is “in great plentitude”

• if evil evil and suffering could result in some greater good, its presence could be justified

• the evidence of unessecary evil (rape and murder) is enough for rowe to conclude that gods existance is improbable

how is gods omniscience evidence for this argument?

• if he was omniscient, he would know of all the evil and suffering that happens, so why would god bother to create the universe?

how does evil evidence against the existance of god?

• 1) evil is overwhelming in quantity and quality

• 2) evil that is pointless as it serves no useful purpose