The Problem of Evil I

Considering some examples, framing the argument.

Goya: Executions of the 3rd of May

Fyodor Dostoevsky

• Russian Novelist, 1821-1881.

• Commissioned as an engineering officer in the Russian Army.

• Arrested an imprisoned in 1849 for belonging to a liberal group, subjected to a mock execution, then exiled to Siberia.

• Orthodox believer.

Rebellion

• Some vivid examples, focusing on children. (Why children?)

• From executions to beatings to grotesque abuse to the General.

• Is the knowledge of good and evil worth this price? What does Ivan say here?

• Can God ‘make it OK’ after the fact? What does Ivan say about this?

• What is rebellion?

So, what’s the problem?

• The ‘perfect God’ (= the theistic God):– Omniscient. (Knows everything.)– Omnipotent. (Can do anything.)– Perfectly benevolent. (Wants only the best for

all.)

• The challenge: – Look at the world around us: are the evils we

see there compatible with such a God?

An early argument from evil

• Epicurus:– If God is omnipotent, omniscient, and

perfectly benevolent, then God can prevent all evils, God knows about all evils, and God wants to prevent all evils.

– But there are evils. – So there is no omnipotent, omniscient and

perfectly benevolent God.

Theistic explanations of evil

1. Necessary evils: If God is limited by logic and some evils are logically inevitable,

then there will be evils despite God.

2. Evils that are necessary means to greater goods:If there are goods that can only be achieved by allowing/creating

evils, and the goods ‘outweigh’ those evils, God could be right to allow those evils.

3. Evils that are not ‘God’s fault’:If some aspects of the world are not fixed by God, but by some

other (imperfect) co-creator, evils could result from those imperfections. (links to 2, here)

4. A radical response: There are no evils.