The Problem of Evil

1
The Problem of Evil
2
Our Question

• Our question is Does God Exist?
• Theism God exists.
• Atheism God does not exist.
• Agnosticism I dont know.
• Weak I happen not to know. Maybe someone else
  does.
• Strong No one knows (despite what they might
  think).
• Super-Strong It is impossible for anyone to know.

3
Agenda

• The (supposed) nature of God
• The nature of evil
• Incompatibilism and the atheistic argument from
  evil
• An argument for Incompatibilism

4
We Need Ground Rules

• To clarify the question What sort of thing is
  God supposed to be?
• Both atheists and theists should be able to agree
  on the answer.

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What Sort of Thing is God?

• God is supposed to be
• Powerful (Omnipotent, Almighty) God can do
  anything that can be done
• Knowledgeable (Omniscient) God can know
  anything that can be known and
• Good (Omnibenevolent) God loves and cares about
  all his creatures.
• Set aside The paradox of the stone.

6
God is a Person

• Conclusion from our reflections If God exists,
• he can do things,
• he knows things, and
• he cares about things.
• If God exists, he is a person.

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Mere Monotheism

• Mere Monotheism the doctrine that there exists a
  person who is almighty, all-knowing, and all-good.

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Remarks on What Needs to be Shown

• Theists need to show that a certain kind of
  person exists.
• God, if He exists
• is not a paperweight
• is not the Big Bang
• is not an idea
• is not an emotion

9
Agenda

• The (supposed) nature of God
• The nature of evil
• Incompatibilism and the atheistic argument from
  evil
• An argument for Incompatibilism

10
There is Evil in this world (or at least bad)

• The problem of evil revolves around the claim
  that
• there is evil in this world.
• cruelty,
• jealousy,
• pain,
• depression,
• torture,
• injustice,
• disease,
• natural calamity of all sorts,
• etc.,
• etc.,
• ad nauseum.

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Two Kinds of Evil



Natural Evil
Artificial Evil
What is it?
Evil not caused by human actions
Evil caused by human actions

• cutting in line (injustice)
• Making fun of your aunt for her weird dye-job
  (cruelty)
• stealing a nickel from your Mom for candy (theft)

• hurricanes
• epidemics
• tsunamis
• earthquakes

Examples
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Complicating the Distinction INatural Evil and
Human Action

• Note natural evil seems to require animal
  suffering.
• No suffering means no evil examples
• paleozoic volcanic eruptions
• that huge storm on Jupiter

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Complicating the Distinction INatural Evil and
Human Action (cont.)

• An upshot some natural evils are made worse by
  human action.
• Examples
• building a city below the level of an adjoining
  lake
• living at the base of a volcano
• raising chickens or other livestock in great
  numbers

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Complicating the Distinction IIArtificial Evil
and Nature

• Artificial evil almost always requires the
  cooperation of nature.
• Examples
• the villains gun
• The villains radio

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Summary of the complications

• Some natural evils are bad (or made worse)
  because of human action.
• Almost any artificial evil is bad because of the
  operation of natural laws.
• Some cases are hard to classify. Examples
• global warming
• the Dust Bowl
• using bioweapons

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Agenda

• The (supposed) nature of God
• The nature of evil
• Incompatibilism and the atheistic argument from
  evil
• An argument for Incompatibilism

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Existence of God, Existence of Evil

• Incompatibilism the doctrine that, if God
  exists, then bad things do not happen.
• Four positions

Do bad things happen?
Does God exist?
Compatibilist Theism
Yes
Yes
X
Implausible!
Yes
No
These are the only positions we will be
considering
Polyanna Theism
Incompatibilist Atheism
X
Yes
No
Implausible!
Polyanna Atheism
X
X
No
No
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The Atheist Argument from Evil
We can generate an argument for atheism, if we
can establish Incompatibilism

1. Incompatibilism If God exists, then bad things
   do not happen.
2. Our Assumption Bad things happen

(C) Atheism God does not exist.
But why think Incompatibilism is true?
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Agenda

• The (supposed) nature of God
• The nature of evil
• Incompatibilism and the atheistic argument from
  evil
• An argument for Incompatibilism

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The Antidote Argument for Incompatibilism
God is the antidote to evil

• The Antidote Principle If God exists, then
• He knows when bad things are going to happen
• He is powerful enough to prevent bad things from
  happening and
• He wants bad things not to happen.
• The Bystander Limitations If a person P does
  not prevent something from happening, then
  either
• She didnt know it would happen
• She wasnt powerful enough to prevent it or
• She didnt want it not to happen.

There are limits on what youll fail to prevent.
(C) Incompatibilism If God exists, then bad
things do not happen.
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The Antidote Argument for Incompatibilism

• The Antidote Principle If God exists, then
• He knows when bad things are going to happen
• He is powerful enough to prevent bad things from
  happening and
• He wants bad things not to happen.
• The Bystander Limitations If a person P does
  not prevent something from happening, then
  either
• She didnt know it would happen
• She wasnt powerful enough to prevent it or
• She didnt want it not to happen.

Omniscient
Omnipotent
All-loving
(C) Incompatibilism If God exists, then bad
things do not happen.
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Why Think the Bystander Limitations are true?

• The Bystander Limitations admit only three
  excuses
• Ignorance
• Encyclopedia Brown
• Powerlessness
• Coyote
• Indifference
• You let your mother give your child a cookie

How could you fail to prevent that from happening?
I didnt know
I couldnt do anything
I didnt care
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The Antidote Argument for Incompatibilism

• The Antidote Principle If God exists, then
• He knows when bad things are going to happen
• He is powerful enough to prevent bad things from
  happening and
• He wants bad things not to happen.
• The Bystander Limitations If a person P fails
  to prevent something from happening, then either
• She didnt know it would happen
• She wasnt powerful enough to prevent it or
• She didnt want it not to happen.

Ignorance
Powerlessness
Indifference
(C) Incompatibilism If God exists, then bad
things do not happen.
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Leibniz

• Gottfried Leibniz
• (1646 1716)
• Leibniz was a mathematician, physicist, and
  philosopher.
• Leibniz is a compatibilist theist.

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Agenda

• Leibnizs Thesis
• The New Antidote Argument
• The Burden of Theodicy
• Three Objections

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This is the best of all possible worlds
Leibniz argues this world is the best of all
possible worlds.

• Whoever does not choose the best among several
  possible alternatives is lacking in power, in
  knowledge, or in goodness.
• God is not lacking in power, knowledge or
  goodness.
• God chose to create this world out of all of the
  possible worlds he could have created.

(C) This world is the best out of all possible
worlds.
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Leibnizs Argument seems a lot like the Antidote
Argument
Reminds me of

• Whoever does not choose the best among several
  possible alternatives is lacking in power, in
  knowledge, or in goodness.
• God is not lacking in power, knowledge or
  goodness.
• God chose to create this world out of all of the
  possible worlds he could have created.

the Bystander Limitations
the Antidote Principle
(C) This world is the best out of all possible
worlds.
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Leibniz Bad Things Happen
The best plan is not always that which seeks
to avoid evil, since it may happen that the evil
is accompanied by a greater good. For example, a
general of an army will prefer a great victory
with a slight wound to a condition without wound
and without victory. (p. 92, col. 1)

• Leibniz I will tolerate necessary evils.
• Examples
• the wound is necessary for the victory
• flu shots
• high criminal burden of proof
• Leibnizs Thesis Each bad thing that happens in
  this world is necessary to secure a greater good.

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Agenda

• Leibnizs Thesis
• The New Antidote Argument
• The Burden of Theodicy
• Three Objections

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How does this help with the Antidote Argument?

• How does the idea of a necessary evil help with
  the Antidote Argument?
• Necessary evils present counter-examples to
  Bystander Limitations
• The general allows the wound to happen, even
  though he knows it will happen, he could prevent
  it, and wants it not to happen.
• I allow the prick to happen, even though, etc.
• We allow the guilty to go free, even though, etc.

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Bystander Limitations is False

• The Bystander Limitations If a person P does
  not prevent something from happening, then
  either
• She didnt know it would happen
• She wasnt powerful enough to prevent it
• She didnt want it not to happen OR
• Allowing it is necessary for her to secure some
  greater good.

• Leibniz holds that Bystander Limitations is
  simply false.
• There is a missing condition we need to allow
  for necessary evils.
• Once you add this condition, Incompatibilism no
  longer follows.

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The New Antidote Argument

• The Antidote Principle If God exists, then
• He knows when bad things are going to happen
• He is powerful enough to prevent bad things from
  happening and
• He wants bad things not to happen.
• The Bystander Limitations If a person P does
  not prevent something from happening, then
  either
• She didnt know it would happen
• She wasnt powerful enough to prevent it
• She didnt want it not to happen
• Allowing it is necessary for her to secure some
  greater good.

Heres the old Antidote Argument
Heres the new Bystander Limitations
OR
The new argument gets a new conclusion
(C) Incompatibilism If God exists, then bad
things do not happen.
(C) Necessary Evil Compatibilism If God
exists, then bad things do not happen, unless
allowing them to happen is required in order to
secure a greater good.
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Agenda

• Leibnizs Thesis
• The New Antidote Argument
• The Burden of Theodicy
• Three Objections

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Leibnizs Thesis, Amplified
Leibnizs Thesis Each bad thing that happens in
this world is necessary to secure a greater good.

• Theodicy an argument that the existence of evil
  is justified.
• Theist strategy for any given evil, show that
  it is necessary to achieve a greater good.

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How could evil be required to secure a greater
good?

• The Free Will Theodicy a world in which some
  crabbiness, cruelty, etc., is allowed, but in
  which some people choose goodness, kindness,
  sweetness and light is better than any world
  without crabbiness, cruelty, etc., but in which
  God forces his creatures to goodness, kindness,
  sweetness, and light.
• The Appreciation Theodicy a world in which some
  misery is allowed, but in which people appreciate
  what contentment they may find is better than any
  world full of spoiled but contented ingrates.

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Compatibilism, Weak and Strong

• Weak Compatibilism Gods existence is
  compatible in principle with the occurrence of
  some bad things.
• Strong Compatibilism Gods existence is
  compatible with the occurrence of all the bad
  things that there actually are.

"I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and
omnipotent God would have designedly created the
Ichneumonidae with the express intention of their
feeding within the living bodies of Caterpillars,
or that a cat should play with mice." (Charles
Darwin, Letter to American botanist Asa Gray,
source wikipedia entry for Ichneumon)
source http//iris.biosci.ohio-state.edu/catalogs
/ichneumonids/
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The Burden of Theodicy
Strong Compatibilism Gods existence is
compatible with the occurrence of all the bad
things that there actually are.

• Make a list of all the bad things that have ever
  actually happened
• B1 Hurricane Katrina,
• B2 the Haitian Earthquake,
• B3 World War II,
• Strong Compatibilism says
• Gods existence is compatible with B1 and
• Gods existence is compatible with B2 and
• Gods existence is compatible with B3 and

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The Burden of Theodicy
Strong Compatibilism Gods existence is
compatible with the occurrence of all the bad
things that there actually are.

• The Theist needs strong compatibilism.
• An theodicy is inadequate if a single instance of
  actual evil is incompatible with the existence of
  God.

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Agenda

• Leibnizs Thesis
• The New Antidote Argument
• The Burden of Theodicy
• Three Objections

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Three Objections Agenda
Leibnizs Thesis Each bad thing that happens in
this world is necessary to secure a greater
good.

• Pointless Suffering
• Why is All This Evil Necessary?
• The Distribution of Evil

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Each and every bad thing?
Leibnizs Thesis Each bad thing that happens in
this world is necessary to secure a greater good.

• Pointless suffering bad things that do not have
  compensating good effects.
• Examples (?)
• 100 fatal prehistoric natural disasters

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Each and every bad thing?
Leibnizs Thesis Each bad thing that happens in
this world is necessary to secure a greater good.

• There are really two related objections here
• Existence some suffering is pointless.
• Extent God seems to be laying it on a bit thick
• Examples
• sports injuries
• headaches

43
Three Objections Agenda
Leibnizs Thesis Each bad thing that happens in
this world is necessary to secure a greater
good.

• Pointless Suffering
• Why is All This Evil Necessary?
• The Distribution of Evil

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Is that really necessary?
Leibnizs Thesis Each bad thing that happens in
this world is necessary to secure a greater good.

• Who makes the rules around here, anyway?
• God, if He exists, is powerful
• The general cant secure a victory without a
  wound, but God can
• I cant give someone an immunity to the flu
  without some discomfort, but God can.

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Is that really necessary? (vs. the Free Will
Theodicy)
Leibnizs Thesis Each bad thing that happens in
this world is necessary to secure a greater good.

• Free Will
• the benefits of free will are secured by the
  time the agent executes her decision.
• the misery has yet to be caused that requires
  cooperation from nature.
• a minor miracle could save the benefits and
  prevent the evil.

Cause
Misery
Action

• A convenient misfire would have come in handy
• Or a good, stiff cross-breeze.

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Is that really necessary? (vs. the Appreciation
Theodicy)
Leibnizs Thesis Each bad thing that happens in
this world is necessary to secure a greater good.
Gee Willikers, am I a lucky ducky!

• Appreciation Theodicy
• If God exists, it seems to be within his power to
  make us appreciate how good we have it without
  seeing (or experiencing) misery.
• How about movies, or other fake misery, instead
  of real misery?

Misery
Causes
Appreciation
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Three Objections Agenda
Leibnizs Thesis Each bad thing that happens in
this world is necessary to secure a greater
good.

• Pointless Suffering
• Why is All This Evil Necessary?
• The Distribution of Evil

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For the greater good? Whose good?
Leibnizs Thesis Each bad thing that happens in
this world is necessary to secure a greater good.

• The idea here is some people bear the costs of
  the evil, and others get to reap the benefits.
• This seems unfair and
• Inconsistent with love.