Problem Of Evil Anthology Summary

Adequate solutions:

• Deny God’s omnipotence or restrict its meaning/value

• Evil is an illusion as the whole world is temporal

• Evil is the privation of good and it does not actually exist

Fallicous Solutions:

• You cannot have one without the other, evil co-exists with good.

Point 1

It limits God’s abilities

• The view that logical necessities bind God. Is it possible for an omnipotent being to bind itself? (Paradox of omnipotence)

Evil + good cannot exist without each other

God might have made everything good, but we should not have noticed if he has.

Point 2

Evil is necessary for good as a means

Limits God’s power

God limited by causal laws conflicts with the idea that these laws are created by God.

It is only possible if an omnipotent being could bind itself

God is omnipotent, or God is not completely omnipotent

Point 3

Evil contrasts with beauty to make good appear more appealing, and the gradual overcoming of evil by good is a better thing than constant good.

• 1st order evil → Pain and misery

• 1st order good → Pleasure + happiness

• Second-order good → increasing happiness in contrast to misery

• Third order good → God’s goodness

Second-order goods try to maximise first-order goods and minimise first-order evils

Criticisms of the previous points:

Third-order goods are not higher sorts of goods, but just a reason for first-order goods to exist. It is appalling if God keeps misery in existence just for benevolence + heroism.

Follows the idea that God is not benevolent/sympathetic

He is not concerned with minimising evil but with promoting good.

There is a possibility of a second-order evil existing where it includes malevolence, cruelty and cowardice. It is when the first-order good decreases and the first-order evil increases

Most theists express that second-order evil is more present than first-order evil.

Even if there was a third-order good, there would also be a third-order evil to contrast with this, leading to infinite regress.

Point 4

Evil is not up to God, but due to humans’ free will that God has enabled us to have

First-order evil (pain) is considered a logically necessary component of second-order good (sympathy)

Second-order evil (cruelty) is not justified but ascribed to human beings, so it has nothing to do with God, as we have a choice to do things.

Freedom is treated as a third-order good as it is seen as more valuable than second-order goods

Second-order evils are a logically necessary accompaniment of freedom

Criticisms of previous points:

God made us so that we could choose between good and evil. Why not make us choose only between the good?

There was a better possibility of making beings who had free choice but always chose good

Sovereignty = supreme power/authority

• Paradox of omnipotence = is it possible for an omnipotent being to make things out of its control or to make rules that bind itself?

• Yes → limits God so that he is no longer omnipotent

• No → immediately asserts that there are things He cannot do

• Paradox of sovereignty = is it possible for a legal sovereign to make a law restricting its own legislative power?

• first order laws → laws that govern the actions of individuals + bodies other than legislature

• Second-order laws → Laws about laws; laws governing the actions of the legislative (power to make laws) itself

• First-order sovereignty → unlimited authority to make first-order laws

• Second-order sovereignty → unlimited authority to make second-order laws

You cannot have both first and second-order sovereignty, there will always be a loophole

Conclusion:

• There are no valid solutions to the problem of evil that don’t modify/affect the core of the position

• The paradox of omnipotence shows that God must be limited in some way; unqualified omnipotence cannot be given to a being that continues through time

• If God and His actions are not in time, can omnipotence or any power be meaningfully ascribed to him?