The problem of evil

Overview

Recall questions on moral and natural evil, the logical and evidential problems, theodicy and defence, Augustine on privation, the Fall and humanity present in Adam, Hick's two-stage creation, epistemic distance and vale of soul-making, the criticisms of both theodicies, and other responses to evil.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What is the difference between moral evil and natural evil?

   Model answer

   Moral evil is suffering brought about by the deliberate misuse of human freedom, such as murder, cruelty, exploitation or war. Natural evil is suffering caused by the workings of the world itself, such as earthquakes, disease, drought and predation, where no human agent is responsible. The distinction matters because free will can be offered as an explanation of the first but not obviously of the second.

2. 2

   State the logical problem of evil.

   Model answer

   It claims that a set of beliefs central to theism cannot all be true together: that God is omnipotent, that God is wholly good, and that evil exists. The argument adds two linking premises, that a good being eliminates evil as far as it can and that there are no limits on what an omnipotent being can do. Given those, the existence of evil entails that no such God exists, so the believer is charged not with holding something improbable but with holding a contradiction.

3. 3

   State the evidential problem of evil.

   Model answer

   It concedes that there is no strict contradiction, and argues instead that the amount, distribution and apparent pointlessness of suffering make God's existence unlikely. It draws attention to horrors that produce no discernible good, to suffering distributed with no relation to desert, to the agony of animals over millions of years before humans existed, and to suffering that destroys rather than develops those who undergo it. The claim is that even if some evil could be justified, this much of it, of these kinds, counts heavily against belief.

4. 4

   Why does the difference between the logical and evidential problems matter?

   Model answer

   They demand different responses. Answering the logical problem requires only showing that the beliefs are consistent, for which a merely possible reason for permitting evil is enough. Answering the evidential problem requires much more: a plausible account of why a good God would allow this world's actual catalogue of suffering. A believer may therefore succeed against the first while still being in serious difficulty with the second.

5. 5

   What is the difference between a theodicy and a defence?

   Model answer

   A theodicy attempts to give the actual reasons why a good and powerful God permits evil, and so tries to justify God's conduct. A defence attempts only to show that there is no contradiction, by offering a possible reason without claiming it is the true one. Augustine and Hick offer theodicies; someone who argues merely that free will might explain evil is offering a defence.

6. 6

   What does Augustine say about the goodness of creation?

   Model answer

   He holds that God created everything and that everything God created is good, so that nothing in the world is evil by nature. The creation was originally perfect and ordered, with every kind of creature occupying its proper place. Whatever has gone wrong therefore cannot have been made by God, and must have entered creation afterwards.

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