The anti-theistic argument from Evil

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The anti-theistic argument from Evil
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The Deductive argument from evil

• If there is a God, then this God would prevent
  Evil
• But there is Evil
• Therefore there is no God.

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• The argument has an a priori assumptionthat it
  follows from the nature of God that God would
  want to prevent evil and that God would be able
  to prevent evil.
• The argument has an empirical premisethere is
  Evil

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A problem with the Deductive Argument

• The Deductive argument claims that Evil is
  incompatible with the existence of God.
• But this is not necessarily the case. If
  something very good is necessarily connected with
  something evil, God might have to create the
  evil, in order to create the good.
• What would such a great good be?

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Free will

• By saying human beings (at least) have free will,
  we mean that some of the choices and decisions
  human beings make are not determined (by natural
  causality, God, or anything else). They are up
  to us, not up to God or nature.
• Such free will seems to involve the possibility
  of evil (since nothing us from making evil
  choices)

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The Free will defense

• It is good that God create free creatures
• If God creates free creatures, God must also
  creates the possibility of evil
• The existence of free creatures is a good that
  outweighs the evil that comes from free choices
• Therefore God is justified creating a world with
  evil in it and evil is not incompatible with the
  existence of God.

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The inductive argument from evil

• The failure of the deductive argument forces us
  to focus on the question of gratuitous evil
• Gratuitous evil is evil that is not required for
  any greater good. It is pointless.

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Another argument from evil

• If God exists, God would not allow for gratuitous
  evil
• There is gratuitous evil
• Therefore God does not exist
• This argument requires that we support the claim
  that some evils are not themselves required for
  some greater good.

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Kinds of Evil

• Physical evil (suffering)
• Mental evil (depression, grief)
• State evil ( hatred, envy, ugliness)
• Moral evil (actions leading to evil
  consequences, actions that are bad in themselves
  if there are any (e.g. lying).
• The universe appears to be full of many evils of
  these kinds

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Swinburne these evils are not really gratuitous

• The possibility of evil actions is a
  pre-requisite for free will
• Evil actions must have real consequences if
  people are to have real responsibility

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What of natural evil?

• Natural evil is evil that is not the result of
  free choices
• Natural disasters, disease, the suffering of
  humans and other animals due to natural phenomena

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Swinburnes response

• An imperfect world is better than a perfect world
  because it allows for creatures to improve
  through their free actions. It gives creatures
  the privledge of making their own universe.
• (p.243)

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Soul making

• God could create a world with morally perfect
  people, but it is better that we be created
  imperfectly. This allows us to grow and develop
  our own character through our free choices.
• Natural evils provide an enviroment in which
  character development can occur
• (a world in which everything is fine would not
  provide much opportunity for courage or
  compassion, for example)

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Gratuitous evil again

• Do these general arguments show that all examples
  of evil are not gratuitous. Consider these two
  examples
• A child is raped and killed by her father
• A fawn dies a slow painful death as a result of
  being caught in a fire
• Evils such as these are not at all rareare they
  all necessary for some greater good?