Evil & Suffering

Question 1

What does Hick define evil and suffering as

Answer 1

physical pain and mental suffering and moral wickedness, the last one is the cause of the first two

Question 2

Non moral evil

Answer 2

-natural evil
-apparent malfunctioning of natural world which produces diseases, earthquakes, volcanoes, natural disasters independent of human actions

Question 3

Moral evil

Answer 3

-result of human actions that are morally wrong such as murder, war, cruelty

Question 4

What does Swinburne say moral evil needs to be

Answer 4

‘deliberate’
‘negligent’

Question 5

Monism

Answer 5

-belief that universe is one single harmonious entity that is good, evil is mere illusion

Question 6

Monist approach

Answer 6

-evil an illusion
-evil cause feeing of suffering only because we cannot see whole picture, if we did we would realise that evil is an illusion
-evil not deliberately created by God, lack of goodness like blindness is a lack of sight

Question 7

Spinoza quote+idea

Answer 7

-we should look more objectively at world without putting ourselves first
-‘all things are necessarily what they are, and in nature there is no good and no evil’
-things arnt actuslly evil, we perceive some things as evil as God created objectively, can’t please everyone

Question 8

Problems with monist approach

Answer 8

-many people have experienced extreme evil and suffering
-if evil just an illusion, why do we actively try to avoid it?
-why would an omnibenevolent God allow people to suffer because of an illusion?

Question 9

Atheist approach

Answer 9

-evil is convincing enough evidence to prove God does not exist

Question 10

Quote by Murdoch

Answer 10

‘I cannot imagine any omnipotent sentient being sufficiently cruel enough to create the world we inhabit’

Question 11

Idea that our view of evil distorted (Sikh, Hindu, Buddhist philosophy)

Answer 11

-evil is an illusion brought about by human greed and selfishness (ego or haumai for Sikh)
-karma dictates suffering in future lives
-suffering not from God but result of human actions
-suffering can be overcome by achieving good karma, being gurmukh

Question 12

Christian explainations why evil exists

Answer 12

-no doubt evil exists as it is included in Bible, teachings how to overcome evil
1. Fair punishment for sins committed by humans
2. Suffering test of individuals faith
3. Due to Satan

Question 13

Problem with Christian explanation for why evil exists (Fair punishment)

Answer 13

-suffering appears to happen randomly e.g book of Job, punished severly simply as a test of his faith by God, did not sin
-God does not seem to punish those who commit evil acts severely, divine justice????

Question 14

Problem with Christian explanation for why evil exists (test faith)

Answer 14

-if God is omniscient why does he need to test faith, should already know what it’s like without extreme suffering

Question 15

Problem with Christian explanation for why evil exists (Satan)

Answer 15

-if God omnipotent should be able stop Satan
-If created everything in world, created Satan, ultimately responsible for suffering

Question 16

Inconsistent Triad

Answer 16

-J.L Mackie
-evil and suffering exists in world -yet God is understood to be omnipotent (powerful enough to stop evil or created world without it)
-and omnibenevolent (all loving so would not want to see others suffer)
-all 3 cannot be logically believed at same time, evidence for evil cannot be denied, no solid solution found that does not compromise or remove one of them

Question 17

What does Hume believe about problem of evil

Answer 17

-problem if evil good argument against existence of God of the Bible (classical theism)

Question 18

what is a Theodicy

Answer 18

-any solution to problem of evil that does not neglect or disregard either evil, omnipotence or omnibenevolence

Question 19

Augustine’s theodicy

Answer 19

-evil is a privation, not an actual phenomenon, does not actually exist
-e.g evil of disease is due to lack of good health
-soul deciding

Question 20

How did privation of good come about according to Augustine

Answer 20

-the fall of mankind
-adam and eve disobeyed God and through free will chose to sin
-original sin, corrupted human nature for all future generations
-introduced moral evil, disrupted original good order in world which bough in natural evil
-God just in allowing suffering as fair punishment for humanity’s sin
-therefore not responsible

Question 21

Strengths Augustine’s theodicy

Answer 21

-consistent with God of classical theism, omnipotent, omnibenevolent , not responsible for evil
-responsibility for evil recognised but attributed to humans rather than God
-Free will presented as reason for suffering, evil and suffering could be considered price worth paying for freedom

Question 22

Limitations of Augustine’s thoedicy

Answer 22

-not scientifically possible for all humanity to be seminally present in Adam, why we all punished?
-original sin doesn’t seem fair since we suffer because of Adams actions
-if world created perfect, how did Adam find out about evil to make sinful choice
-Gods omnipotence and omniscience challenged by Augustine’s solution

Question 23

Schleimacker criticisms Augustine’s theodicy

Answer 23

-logical contradiction to say perfectly created world has gone wrong, either not perfect to start with as something perfect has to stay perfect forever, God made it go wrong?
-if before fall no knowledge of good and evil how can adam and eve be blameworthy if they did not know disobeying God was evil, did not know consequence, if they chose to disobey the knowledge of right and wrong must have already been known

Question 24

Irenaeus Theodicy

Answer 24

-evil result of free will, had choice to commit evil or good
-God gave humanity free will in order to achieve particular purpose, allow humans develop moral and spiritual perfection, to become truly in the image of God
-develop characteristics such as compassion, courage
-free will essential for perfection, if God made humans so they could only do good, morality would be result of coercion, not truly good, if God intervened to stop evil freedom would be lost
-allowed free will that led to evil as allowed humans to have opportunity for moral development
-humans responsible as brought about theough their free will

Question 25

What did Iranaeus argue made up for suffering humans experience

Answer 25

-eternity in heaven ultimately make up for suffering humans experience on earth -in heaven, all humans would achieve moral perfection

Question 26

Who developed Irenaeus theodicy

Answer 26

John Hick -more recent proponent

Question 27

Hick theodicy

Answer 27

-humans went through life in process moral development moving towards perfection -existence good and evil helps with this process, helps humans develop good attributes and characteristics -e.g experiencing suffering of others csn help develop compassion and sympathy -similarly, experiencing outcomes of lies might make someone more honest -‘soul making’ -makes existence of evil justified