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Problem of evil (Swinburne (Theodicy (It basically says that natural evel…
Problem of evil
Swinburne
Theodicy
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Swinburne argues that natural evil exists in order to allow people to have the knowledge of how to create or prevent evil. This knowledge is required in order for people to actually have a choice over choosing good or evil.
basically people have to be able to do good (which is real good because it is an actual choice of having to do good)
So to do this we need to know that certain actions have bad actions, and we can only actually know the bad consequences if we have seen them before, hence natural evil exists.
Toy world theory
(asking for a world with no evil is like asking that) "a God should make a toy-world, a world where things matter, but not very much."
"He would be like the over-protective parent who will not allow his child out of sight for a moment”
Criticisms of Swinburne
Rather than God creating natural evil to teach us of moral evil, could he not have just told us what is morally evil, like in the garden of Eden when Adam and Eve are told not to eat the fruit. This is like a parent let a child play on a railway line.
Swinburne says that victims of natural evil suffer so that others can learn. Therefore it is better to suffer and be used as a tool for learning, than not to suffer and for a much worse moral evil to take place. However surely this simply uses humans as a means to an end, how could you justify that an omnibenevolent God could do this.
surely you don't even need to see a human victim, you can just look at physics around you and apply them logically to one's own body.
Augustine
Theodicy
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Because of his christian views he believed that God could only create something Good. "God saw all that he made and it was good." Genesis 1:31
Augustine was apart of the manichees who believed that there are 2 cosmic forces of good and evil. when he became christian Augustine instead concluded that there is no such thing as evil.
What he said evil was was "privation boni", a privation of good. He believed that evil is not a separate entity, but merely falling away from good, just as a shadow falls away from light.
He believed that some animals are more limited than others, not because of evil, but because of the diversity of creation, which he believed to be a good thing.
He believed that evil entered the world with the fall of the angels. He believed that angels are perfect, but that some received less grace than others. (assistance by good in their attempts to be more holy).
the angels fell from a misuse of free will. They were trying to become their own lords, rather than relying on the goodness of God. This was repeated in Adam and Eve when Lucifer tempted them in the Garden
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Augustine said that the disobedience of Adam and Eve changed the entire world, causing earthquakes and all natural evil.
this leads to some strange interpretations of Genesis as Angels are not mentioned (other than the guards of the tree of life)
Criticisms
Augustine relied on a literal interpretation of the bible. + homunculi in order to justify all of man gaining free will
The problem is that he still believes the world to be created perfect, however surely a part of perfection is an inability for things to go wrong.
How can all of creation be good, e.g. how can a stone be good? is it not minds that make things good, how can inanimate objects be good in themselves?
Irenaeus
Theodicy
Good only exists as good because there is bad to compare it to. if everyone is generous then no one is generous.
Evil must exist so that we can be free and be responsible decision makers. if everything went our way, we would never learn anything. people grow by tackling problems.
There has to be evil in the world in order for use to appreciate Good. Just like we wouldn't appreciate hot days if there weren't cold days.
When God made us in his image, we had to be given free will, and the only way that we can do that is by choosing to do good, not evil
He believed that God allows evil to exist in the world in order to allow us to grow and develop as people to have a mature and free relationship with God.
He believed that God's image and God's likeness are different. We are made in God's image, but we must grow into God's likeness.
he starts his theodicy accepting genesis, he focused on the quote; "And now we will make human beings and they will be like us and resemble us" (Genesis 1:26)
Kant points out that in order to act morally we must have freedom of choice, we cannot be blamed for evil if we are forced to do it and we cannot be blamed for good if we are forced to do it.
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Criticisms
Surely suffering can never be an instrument of a truly Omnibenevolent God, could he not have come up with a way of us being good without suffering having to contrast it.
suffering isn't spread evenly through the world, doesn't this show a flaw in how god tests us in this way.
Suffering leads to many people to lose faith in God, how is this soul making? e.g. jews in Auschwits lost faith
some people cannot benefit from suffering and grow before they die, e.g. the disabled or babies
The problems
The Logical Problem
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If God is Omnipotent, Omnibenevolent and Omniscient, then why does evil exist?
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The Evidential Problem
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It asks us to look at the evidence in the world, showing much evil and suffering.
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