The Problem of Evil I Considering some examples, framing the argument.
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Transcript of The Problem of Evil I Considering some examples, framing the argument.
The Problem of Evil I
Considering some examples, framing the argument.
Goya: Executions of the 3rd of May
Fyodor Dostoevsky
• Russian Novelist, 1821-1881.
• Commissioned as an engineering officer in the Russian Army.
• Arrested an imprisoned in 1849 for belonging to a liberal group, subjected to a mock execution, then exiled to Siberia.
• Orthodox believer.
Rebellion
• Some vivid examples, focusing on children. (Why children?)
• From executions to beatings to grotesque abuse to the General.
• Is the knowledge of good and evil worth this price? What does Ivan say here?
• Can God ‘make it OK’ after the fact? What does Ivan say about this?
• What is rebellion?
So, what’s the problem?
• The ‘perfect God’ (= the theistic God):– Omniscient. (Knows everything.)– Omnipotent. (Can do anything.)– Perfectly benevolent. (Wants only the best for
all.)
• The challenge: – Look at the world around us: are the evils we
see there compatible with such a God?
An early argument from evil
• Epicurus:– If God is omnipotent, omniscient, and
perfectly benevolent, then God can prevent all evils, God knows about all evils, and God wants to prevent all evils.
– But there are evils. – So there is no omnipotent, omniscient and
perfectly benevolent God.
Theistic explanations of evil
1. Necessary evils: If God is limited by logic and some evils are logically inevitable,
then there will be evils despite God.
2. Evils that are necessary means to greater goods:If there are goods that can only be achieved by allowing/creating
evils, and the goods ‘outweigh’ those evils, God could be right to allow those evils.
3. Evils that are not ‘God’s fault’:If some aspects of the world are not fixed by God, but by some
other (imperfect) co-creator, evils could result from those imperfections. (links to 2, here)
4. A radical response: There are no evils.