Kaufman's Argument For The Problem Of Evil

In Mackie’s Evil and Omnipotence, Mackie explains that evil is only a problem for those who believe in God. Mackie further says that God being omnipotent and wholly good while evil exists is contradictory. This raises questions about how could a wholly good being exist but also have evil around and why would it exist if God could allow evil to happen. Mackie then goes into explain solutions so that “omnipotence,” “wholly good,” and “evil” stop contradicting each other. Mackie says the only way to believe that evil exists, if you do believe that evil does in fact exist, is to either say God is not wholly good or not as omnipotent.

Mackie’s argument highlights the inconsistency that arises between the premises of God’s existence. Mackie proposes the problem of evil to be that “God is omnipotent; God is wholly good; [God exists]; and yet evil exists” (Mackie, 1955, p.200). Mackie states these four propositions cannot coexist, therefore, if evil exists, God cannot and conversely, if God is real evil must be

Why the Problem of Evil Suggests There is No God The typical definition of God is an omniscient, omnipotent, perfectly good being. A perfectly good God is expected to protect His creations from evil and/or stop any form of it from happening, but that is not the case in our world. People are responsible for so much pain and suffering today that the problem of evil as John Hick explained is the most believable explanation as to why I do not think there is a God.

1) “Without God, there would be no universally valid morality.” ( Pojman, pg. 356) “He is the creator of the moral law, and defines its very nature.” ( Pojman, Pg.356) “‘If God doesn’t exist, everything is permissible’ nothing is forbidden or require. Without God we have moral nihilism” (Pojman, Pg.356) “We are against torturing the innocent because it is cruel and unjust, just as God is against torturing the innocent because it is cruel and unjust.

Discuss whether the existence of evil disproves the existence of God A major argument used by atheists against the existence of God is the existence of evil in the world. In philosophy evil is viewed in two different ways: moral evil, which is a result of human action, and natural evil, which caused by a fault in the natural world; the consequence of both types of evil is suffering. Due to this God’s presence is questioned by many non believers, because an omnibenevolent God wouldn’t allow suffering to his people; as a result of this Thomas Aquinas saw a frequent conclusion from philosophers that stated if God existed, there would be no evil in the world, but there is evil; therefore, God does not exist (1917). However, the existence of evil and suffering for a religious

A theodicy attempts to explain why a just and good God would ever allow the existence of evil on earth. The Free Will Theodicy states that the reason that God would not prevent suffering is that “the suffering of the innocent is justified by the existence of free will”. This theodicy also claims that there are natural evils (such as accidents, diseases, etc.) and moral evils, and that moral evils only exist due to humans misusing their sense of free will. According to the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare the awareness that a deed is immoral is what makes fulfilling the deed evil. Nothing an animal does can be seen as cruel because their actions are purely instinctual, mankind is unique in that we have free will and sense of right and wrong, which means that we are the only species capable of true cruelty or evil.

It is evident evil exists but it is not clear whether God exists. The purpose of Mackie’s and Plantinga’s argument is to prove whether or not God exist based on the existence of evil. Mackie does not agree on the existence of God and uses philosophy to prove it. He believes that there is no rational evidence that

However, if evil is not a thing, then what could evil be, and how can it possibly exist? If evil is not a thing but it still exists and is acknowledged, then it can only exist as the absence of something, or an “anti-thing”. Evil as an anti-thing can be likened to other occurrences in the physical realm that we can easily see. For example, cold, this is merely the absence of heat, or night just being the absence of day, or cold being the absence of heat. These can be described as anti-things because, without their counterparts, their existence is

If demons exist, so must God. Descartes believed God will not allow any evil demons to deceive anybody. We can not be for certain if God had a reason to teach humanity a lesson or allow an evil demon to do that

Religion can help make sense of anything that occurs in one’s life whether good or bad. If it’s good, it is of God, but if it’s bad, it is automatically stated that it is of the devil. People are devilish and they should be rebuked and the devils cast from the souls of hell. Religion has been stated to provide inspiration, and is the force that bind individuals together. However, organized faith has its disadvantages.

Everything around us is built of our faith in our senses, and our faith in other people. Without faith we are surrounded by the fear of the known, every neighbour could be planning our death, our senses could be simulated by some machine; and without faith in God, for many people can be the difference between bearing the evil of the world and slipping into the world of oblivion and chaos. Yet is this faith in God rational or not? Mackie thinks not, in his essay “Evil and Omnipotence” he uses the problem of evil in the world to expose the irrationality of God. He shows how, the contradicts of an Omni God makes the belief in such a being irrational.

Response to “On Being an Atheist” Ida Hart PHIL 201 – B30 LUO Dr. David Beck McCloskey’s article, “On Being an Atheist” contains arguments that he uses to explain Atheism, the non-existence of God. Using the claims made by theists and attempting to taint the character and nature of the Christian God, he points out what he calls several defects of the arguments. In his introduction he offers a brief reminder to fellow atheist stating the grounds and the inadequacies of these grounds for theism. He later calls them “proofs”, alleging that the proofs do not provide adequate justification for believing that God exists. This only proves that he is among the many that choose to use the arguments in the wrong way.

In life, people tend to classify ideas into good and evil based on their views and beliefs. The novel, Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, portrays the life a six-year old boy named Antonio living around the time of World War II. Antonio faces many challenges in life as he grows into adulthood. In order to see what is good and evil, Antonio sees things as good if it agrees with his beliefs and sees things as evil if something threatens his beliefs. Many people in life think like Antonio, if people’s beliefs are agreed upon, they see it as good and if people beliefs are contradicted, it is seen as evil.