Heusser Philosophy 100 SG #13g

The Problem of Evil

Hume’s Distinction between Natural and Moral Evil: Two evils to deal with…

Mackie: The Problem of Evil

1) Evil exists.

2) God is omnibenevolent (and a good thing eliminates evil as far as it can).

3) God is omnipotent (and there are no limits to what an omnipotent being can do).

4) God is omniscient (and knows about all evil that may exist).

5) If God is wholly good, omnipotent, and omniscient, then evil must not exist.

6) So, evil must not exist. (by 2,3,4,5) This is contradictory to 1.

Solution 1: Evil does not exist. So, 1 seems false.

Solution 2: Evil is necessary as a means to good. Or Good cannot exist without evil.

So, 3 seems false.

Solution 3: The universe is better with some evil in it than it could be if there were no evil.

So, 2 and 3 seem false.

Leibniz’ “Best Possible World” Defense:

1) Given God is a perfectly good, omniscient, and omnipotent being, God would create the best possible world.

2) Instances of suffering are logically indispensable components of the best possible world.

3) Thus, it is logically possible for a perfectly good, omniscient, and omnipotent being to have a morally sufficient reason to permit evils.

Solution 4: Evil is due to human free will. So, 2, 3, and 4 seem false.

Some Notes on The Problem of Evil:

The “Free Will” Defense:

1) A world with agents who freely choose to do good is better than a world where they are forced to do good.

2) If God is perfectly good, omniscient, and omnipotent, then it would be better for God to create the best possible world.

3) A world with free agents is more likely than a world without free agents to be a world where moral evils occur than a world without free agents.

4) Thus, the best possible world for God to create would be a world where agents are free to choose to do good; but in such a world God risks having agents doing moral evil.