Problems of evil
 Natural
and moral
Moral evil: evil which results from a moral agent
misusing his or her freewill such that the agent is
blameworthy for it. It includes human actions as
well as character traits.
Natural evil: evil which results from natural
phenomena and is not brought about by the free
will of a moral agent. It includes natural disasters
and certain human illnesses.

Horrendous and gratuitous
Gratuitous evil: evil in the form of suffering that
is preventable and pointless.
Examples: a woman diagnosed with cancer; a
daughter killed by her mother’s automobile; a
fawn trapped in a fire.
Horrendous evil: evil which, when experienced
by someone, gives that person reason to doubt
that their life, as experienced, could be taken to
be a great good for them on the whole.
Example: a woman who is raped, dismembered,
starved, and forced to choose which of her
children will die at the hands of terrorists.
1. If God exists, then God is all-powerful, all2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
knowing, and wholly-good
An all-powerful being would have the
power to eliminate evil
An all-knowing being would have the
knowledge to eliminate evil
A wholly-good being would have the
desire to eliminate evil
An all-powerful, all-knowing, and whollygood being would eliminate evil
Evil exists
Therefore, God does not exist
 Draper’s
objection: establishing that the
existence of a particular evil and the
existence of God are incompatible
cannot be accomplished
 Plantinga’s free will defense: it is possible
that God would desire to create a world
which contains evil if moral goodness
requires free moral creatures
Shortened form:
1. If an all-knowing, all-powerful, and
wholly-good God exists, then such a
God could and would create the best of
all possible worlds
2. Due to the existence of evil in the world,
it is improbable that this is the best of all
possible worlds
3. Thus, it is improbable that God exists
 Leibniz’s
lapse: if persons have
libertarian free will then there are certain
worlds that even an all powerful being
could not create
 There cannot be a best of all possible
worlds, for we could always think of one
more good thing to add to that world
Argument
1. Large amounts of evil exist which
God, an omnipotent, omniscient,
and omnibenevolent being, could
have prevented without losing
some greater good or permitting
some equally bad or worse evil
2. God would have prevented the
evils which exist, unless God
could not do so without losing
some greater good or permitting
some equally bad or worse evil
3. Therefore, God does not exist
Objections



We cannot make
moral judgments
about God
God can use evil
and suffering for
our good
Open theism and
gratuitous evil are
compatible
 Problem
The existential feel of certain kinds of evil
sometimes leads to disbelief in God or
religious belief in general
 Reply
The problem is not an argument
Theodicy: an attempt to justify God and God’s
ways given the existence of evil in a world
created by God.
 Augustine’s
 Hick’s
A
free will theodicy
Irenaean (soul-making) theodicy
process theodicy
Which of the theoretical problems of evil do
you find most compelling? Are the solutions
offered satisfactory? Explain.
 Is evil a problem for the atheist? Why or why
not?
 Explore the way a particular non-theistic
worldview accounts for evil and suffering. What
are some similarities with this way of
understanding evil and suffering and theistic
descriptions? What are some differences?
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