The Problem of Evil - Essay Example

Critical Study of The Problem Of Evil The problem of evil has been long debated owing to the confusion over the existence of God, the embodiment of perfect goodness. With a quick look at the background of the problem of evil we find orthodox theism blurring the logical and evidential clarity of the situation. Most orthodox beliefs around the existence and supremacy of god declare that God is omnipresent, perfectly free, worthy of worship and an eternal entity. It is indeed believable that such a supreme power of good exists but it cannot be denied that evil also exists to nullify the effects of the supreme good. Good and evil are both sides of the same coin. But evidences of good are often overpowered by evidences of evil leading many to believe that evil arises from a source equally strong to God and worthy of worship by followers of evil (Conway, 44). It is to break this understanding that philosophers have long tried to showcase evil as a problem through logical and evidential approaches. We critically analyze the problem of evil from both these perspectives in our essay here. Evidential Version of the Problem of Evil Studies have always emphasized that evil can be very strong and create havoc in the lives of ordinary people. Such evil has been termed as horrendous evil, which many degrees more serious than moral of natural evil. Workable theories behind the occurrence of such problems of evil are often negated by the impacted of episodes of horrendous evil in the society. This has led to researchers derive an inductive theory of study evil. The direct inductive approach showcases how evil is directly against theism, while the indirect inductive approach shows a few facts of evil are against theism while the rest is not so. In both the theories, a lot of evidences are presented to support the approaches. The crux of these searches ultimately establishes the fact that evil is antagonistic to goodness (Howard-Snyder, 42). Whether theism defines the source of all goodness is an aspect that defies discussion using this approach. Therefore, theism remains as an explanatory theory which counts existing facts in this world but does not lead to a conclusion regarding the definition or characteristic of evil, which is understood to be against it. Primarily, evil has been categorized into the following three main types: 1. Moral Evil: Good intentions are often met with negative emotions and bad experiences, both of which turn into moral evils that arise out of lack of morality on the evil side. This counts evil that occurs even when there is no apparent pain inflicted on the opponent party. 2. Natural Evil: These are direct reactions to something that strikes as antagonistic and are often found to occur at the heat of the moment. 3. Horrendous Evil: Planned and technically accurate evil actions which have been executed solely to cause harm, pain and loss. In this context revisiting Rowe’s argument from evil stating that evidential approach to the problem of evil only proves the non-existence of God is highly important (1971). According to his arguments, the occurrence of any horrendous evil or intense suffering would be blocked by an omnipresent, all powerful God, which seldom is found to happen in the history of the world. Also, if God was the only powerful being worthy of worship then according to his goodness he would not allow any form of evil to exist in mankind. However, since evil exists and is worshipped and followed by many humans, the fact that God exists becomes untrue. This evidential premise is good only to the extent where evil wins over goodness and destroys what comes in its way. However, there are many instances where good has won over evil in miraculous ways and the power of God is clearly apparent in these cases. At the main center of the circle is the definition of goodness, which talks of bliss and happiness and peace. When God stands for such values, the use of violence or power to overcome evil again sounds antagonistic to the postulates of theism (Stump, 410). Therefore, the evidential approach to the problem of evil not only fails to establish evil as a powerful force but also proves the God is existent and more powerful than evil defying all arguments and theories of theism on select occasions. The evidential approach therefore, is inadequate to keep followers of evil justified in their actions and prove that evil is ultimately vanquished by goodness. The Logical Version of The Problem of Evil: This version has been called the priori version of evil because it tries to predict the actions and interactions of forces of evil and also the course of events in a certain situation. The logical version argues against theism by maintaining that if God existed, evil would be non-existent. Therefore, since evil in the society exists, god does not exist. Theism is shown to be inadequate to prove that God operates goodness through the internal beliefs that are inconsistent from sect to sect. It becomes highly evident that theists base their arguments and evidences on few beliefs like God is in existence, omnipresent and is all powerful. Whether or not these beliefs are based on real life incidences or mere narrations is to be checked on an individual basis. Many believers of theism are more inclined towards falling for the theories than basing their decisions or beliefs on personal experiences or well known facts (Van Inwagen, 137). Logical version of the problem of evil brings out the loopholes in theism and challenges its beliefs and rituals harder than evidential version of the problem does. However, in most real-life cases of horrendous evil, it is seen that evil is stopped by either annihilation of the cause of evil like death of the main protagonist behind the evil acts or transformation of the evil thought or intent in the man or the community. Therefore, in a way, bringing a closure on evil and pain in society is a process of goodness winning over evil through strategic war. And in most cases, the evil in man (Adams, 59) is overcome by the goodness in another man. In this manner we see that human society is a combination of the good and the evil that occurs right within an individual. Whether one chooses to pay heed to his good intentions or chooses to encourage evil thoughts decides his actions. So, in our society, evil is mostly antagonistic to goodness, but not theism, which is itself a half proven theory. The belief that God exists is a belief and still a belief for half of these theists, who have not followed the moral dictates of life to experience the presence of God. Therefore, our study of the problem of evil remains inconclusive very time we compare evil to theism. Instead we should compare evil to goodness and look out for signs of God hood in each man in society. The reasons and dynamics that lead to evil actions automatically present themselves without any mention of the philosophers and finding a solution to stop the evil from happening becomes easy. Conclusion: As mentioned above, the evidential version of the problem of evil is not complete and fails to prove theism wrong in its basic format. The logical version of the problem of evil challenges theism in a better fashion a sit logically questions the beliefs of theism. In both the approaches, finding the main reasons behind the evil is more crucial than letting arguments and theories blur the picture. References: Adams, Robert Merrihew. "Existence, self-interest, and the problem of evil." Nous (1979): 53-65. Conway, David A. "The philosophical problem of evil." International journal for philosophy of religion 24 (1988): 35-66. Howard-Snyder, Daniel, ed. The evidential argument from evil. Indiana University Press, 1996. Stump, Eleonore. "The problem of evil." Faith and philosophy 2.4 (1985): 392-423. Read More