the logical problem of evil

[23] This is also referred to the Darwinian problem of evil,[24][25] after Charles Darwin who expressed it as follows:[26]. Moreover, when they do wrong, they can be rightly blamed or punished for their actions. It seems clearly possible that whatever creatures God were to make in such a world would not have morally significant free will and that there would be no evil or suffering. For example, someone who raises the problem of evil may be referring to the religious/emotional problem of evil, the logical problem of evil, the evidential problem of evil, moral evil, or natural evil, just to name a few. So, W1 is clearly possible. the terrible pain, suffering, and untimely death caused by events like fire, flood, landslide, hurricane, earthquake, tidal wave, and famine and by diseases like cancer, leprosy and tetanus—as well as crippling defects and deformities like blindness, deafness, dumbness, shriveled limbs, and insanity by which so many sentient beings are cheated of the full benefits of life. It is not that they will contingently always do what is right and contingently always avoid what is wrong. The idea that God should have forfeited creation is not a new one. The theist understands that evil, pain, and suffering are contrary to the opposite “good” states – The “way it should be.” They charge that a good God would and should eliminate all evil and suffering. Clearly, his failure to avail himself of this possibility is inconsistent with his being both omnipotent and perfectly good. The Logical Problem of Evil: Evil is a problem for a believer because it challenges the nature of God so it is, therefore, a logical problem. Greater goods defense. This aspect of the problem of evil comes in two broad varieties: the logical problem and the evidential problem. Part of Mackie’s dissatisfaction probably stems from the fact that Plantinga only gives a possible reason for why God might have for allowing evil and suffering and does not provide any evidence for his claims or in any way try to make them plausible. There was no problem of evil before the fall, nor will there be one in the eternal state. In other words, (1) through (4) form a logically inconsistent set. But evil of this sort is the best hope, I think, and maybe the only effective means, for bringing men to such a state. The only difference is that, in W1, the free creatures choose to do wrong at least some of the time, and in W4, the free creatures always make morally good decisions. Atheologians claim that, if we reflect upon (6) through (8) in light of the fact of evil and suffering in our world, we should be led to the following conclusions: (9) If God knows about all of the evil and suffering in the world, knows how to eliminate or prevent it, is powerful enough to prevent it, and yet does not prevent it, he must not be perfectly good. The essential point of the Free Will Defense is that the creation of a world containing moral good is a cooperative venture; it requires the uncoerced concurrence of significantly free creatures. Of course, it’s highly improbable, given what we know about human nature. The happiness which God designs for His higher creatures is the happiness of being freely, voluntarily united to Him and to each other…. If God is going to causally determine people in every situation to choose what is right and to avoid what is wrong in W3, there is no way that he could allow them to be free in a morally significant sense. Alvin Plantinga (1974, 1977) has offered the most famous contemporary philosophical response to this question. Suppose a gossipy neighbor were to tell you that Mrs. Jones just allowed someone to inflict unwanted pain upon her child. Logical problem of evil. Philosophers claim that you only need to use your imagination. The most that can be concluded is that either God does not exist or God has a morally sufficient reason for allowing evil. In the description of the sixth day of creation God says to Adam and Eve, I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. So stated, the logical problem of evil poses a puzzle of deep complexity. However, philosophical theodicies try to make logical sense of evil and suffering - they are solutions that make sense to … But it seems like we can generate a strengthened, revenge-style, logical problem of evil in the following way. One of the most popular theistic responses to the argument from evil is the Free Will Defense. The LPE in its most basic form is a sort of trilemma, where supposedly only two of the three premises can … It was, after all, Mackie himself who characterized the problem of evil as one of logical inconsistency: Here it can be shown, not that religious beliefs lack rational support, but that they are positively irrational, that several parts of the essential theological doctrine are inconsistent with one another. The existence of evil and suffering in our world seems to pose a serious challenge to belief in the existence of a perfect God. In other words, their good behavior will be necessary rather than contingent. If we interpret the dichotomy here in premise 1 as a metaphysical (broadly logical) disjunction, rather than a strictly logical one, then the injection of a *conceivable* third option (namely that having free entities is better than not and that the nature of free will is such as to require the possibility of evil) doesn't demonstrate that the (broadly) logical problem *isn't* a problem. Each of these things seems to be absolutely, positively impossible. A variety of morally sufficient reasons can be proposed as possible explanations of why a perfect God might allow evil and suffering to exist. A. Being upset that God has not done something that is logically impossible is, according to Plantinga, misguided. It’s logically impossible!” As we will see in section V below, Plantinga maintains that divine omnipotence involves an ability to do anything that is logically possible, but it does not include the ability to do the logically impossible. It may be exceedingly unlikely or improbable that a certain set of statements should all be true at the same time. The Incompatibility Problem of Evil. Let’s figure out which of these worlds are possible. (MSR1) claims that God cannot get rid of much of the evil and suffering in the world without also getting rid of morally significant free will. Other solutions to the problem include John Hick’s (1977) soul-making theodicy. If you can show that x is merely possible, you will have refuted (40). Not just any old reason can justify God’s allowing all of the evil and suffering we see. 1. A version of the problem of evil, perhaps by Epicurus, goes as follows: If a perfectly good god exists, then evil does not. We make, so to say, a God in our image and likeness. Now God can create free creatures, but he cannot cause or determine them to do only what is right. Necessarily, God can actualize an evolutionary perfect world. An omniscient being knows every way in which evils can come into existence, and knows every way in which those evils could be prevented. `` Logical Problem Of Evil `` By Lee Strobel 1377 Words 6 Pages Seems like each day we turn on our televisions, open up our Internet browsers or turn on our smartphones we’re confronted with some disturbing news of people doing unimaginable acts to each other, to animals, to our planet or horrible things happening to people all across the globe. Persons have morally significant free will if they are able to perform actions that are morally significant. The phrase “problem of evil” can be used to refer to a host of different dilemmas arising over the issue of God and evil. Before we try to decide whether (MSR1) can justify God in allowing evil and suffering to occur, some of its key terms need to be explained. These include the claims: 1) God exists 2) God is omnipotent 3) God is omniscient 4) God is perfectly good and 5) Evil exists. Logical problem of evil. Logical problem of evil First, it can be formulated as a purely deductive argument (logical version of the argument) that attempts to show that there are certain facts about the evil in the world that are logically incompatible with the existence of God. Since (MSR1) and (MSR2) together seem to show contra the claims of the logical problem of evil how it is possible for God and (moral and natural) evil to co-exist, it seems that the Free Will Defense successfully defeats the logical problem of evil. Also known as a reduction ad absurdum argument, whereby all three propositions cannot be true together. Our logical analysis shows that the logical problem of evil (alleged contradiction) can been sufficiently (successfully) addressed. The Logical Problem of Evil. They attempt to show that the assumed propositions lead to a logical contradiction and therefore cannot all be correct. So, some theists suggest that the real question behind the logical problem of evil is whether (17) is true. If you wanted to tell a lie, you would not be able to do so. It would be one thing if the only people who suffered debilitating diseases or tragic losses were the likes of Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin or Osama Bin Laden. Agree x 1; List; Mar 20, 2019. It seems, then, that the Free Will Defense might be adapted to rebut the logical problem of natural evil after all. No amount of moral or natural evil, of course, can guarantee that a man will [place his faith in God]…. What does it mean to say that something is logically inconsistent? There is evil in the world. Soaked as it is with human suffering and moral evil, how is it possiblethat our world is the work of an almighty, perfectly loving Creator? The evidential problem of evil (also referred to as the probabilistic or inductive version of the problem) seeks to show that the existence of evil, although logically consistent with the existence of God, counts against or lowers the probability of the truth of theism. It is omnibenevolent, meaning perfectly good, meaning does no harm to anyone or anything. They claim that, since there is something morally problematic about a morally perfect God allowing all of the evil and suffering we see, there must not be a morally perfect God after all. These statements are logically inconsistent or contradictory. God has the power to eliminate all evil. It seems that God could have actualized whatever greater goods are made possible by the existence of persons without allowing horrible instances of evil and suffering to exist in this world. If you can conceive of a state of affairs without there being anything contradictory about what you’re imagining, then that state of affairs must be possible. But improbability is not the same thing as impossibility. The article clarifies the nature of the logical problem of evil and considers various theistic responses to the problem. God was not, then, faced with a choice between making innocent automata and making beings who, in acting freely, would sometimes go wrong: there was open to him the obviously better possibility of making beings who would act freely but always go right. If you took away our free will, we would no longer be the kinds of creatures we are. As it is, however, thousands of good-hearted, innocent people experience the ravages of violent crime, terminal disease, and other evils. As a result, the problem of evil is often regarded as one of the greatest threats to religious belief,causing many religious writers to scramble to find a wide variety of solutions. (iii) If despite initial appearances heavenly dwellers do possess morally significant free will, then it seems that it is not impossible for God to create genuinely free creatures who always (of necessity) do what is right. Many philosophers think so. Here it can be shown, not that religious beliefs lack rational support, but that they are positively irrational, that several parts of the essential theological doctrine are inconsistent with one another. Plantinga would deny that any such person has morally significant free will. (8) If God is perfectly good, he would want to prevent all of the evil and suffering in the world. His solution to the logical problem of evil leaves them feeling unsatisfied and suspicious that they have been taken in by some kind of sleight of hand. Better Never to Have Created: A New Logical Problem of Evil (2020) by Horia Plugaru. God can forcibly eliminate evil and suffering (as in W2) only at the cost of getting rid of free will. Adams, Robert Merrihew and Marilyn McCord Adams, eds. God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent. The term “God” is used with a wide variety of differentmeanings. Now let’s consider the philosophically more important world W3. In other words, whether there is immorality in either one of these worlds depends upon the persons living in these worlds—not upon God.

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