According to incompatibility or logical versions of the problem of evil, e is logically incompatible with gods existence mackie 1955. One version of this problem includes animal suffering from natural evil, such as the violence and fear faced by animals from predators, natural disasters, over the history of evolution. Mackie tried to describe the different possibilities that would have occurred if good and evil existed in the same realm. Mackie on the problem of evil university of notre dame. For this reason, mackie does not think that they are of any help to the theologian trying to respond to the problem of evil. In the first chapter he discusses various senses of the term, problem of evil.
However, he thinks most theists will be unwilling to take this approach. He has drawn attention to the fact that all the solutions to the problem involve surrendering one of the definitions of god his omnipotence or his goodness. The book will no doubt supply much grist for the mill of future discussions, but in this piece i should like to focus on mackies analysis of one particular argument, the kalam cosmological argument. Mackie states the problem of evil, as a contradiction between the propositions god is omnipotent. Reconstructed, mackies argument from evil goes as follows. In this article, mackie comes to the logical conclusion to the existence of god. Human choice and free will posted on december 19, 20 by russia robinson in his article entitled evil and omnipotence, j. The problem of evil to present the topic of the problem with evil, without acknowledging there is a god can be confusing.
Mackie has stated the logical problem of evil in very lucid terms. Mackies definition of the problem the problem of evil is god is omnipotent, god is wholly good, and yet evil exists. My belief follows more along the lines of the theodicy defense put forth by john hick in philosophy. Mackie argues that if an omnipotent and morally perfect god exists, why then is there so much evil in this world. It has been revised and republished as chapter 9 of mackies book. After weeks of exploring the existence of nature of god, today hank explores one of the biggest problems in theism, and possibly the biggest philosophical question. Mackie and mccloskey can be understood as claiming that it is impossible for all of the. I think one of the best questions that you could ask is, why does god allow evil being a perfect and loving god elwell, pg 4 there are different types of evil that are allowed in this world. Episode 10, the problem of evil part i the panpsycast. In this first instalment we focus on mackie s logical problem and rowe s evidential problem. The problem of evil stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Mackie thinks these solutions all fail because they only appear to be retaining the three main propositions of the problem of evil gods omnipotence, gods. The article clarifies the nature of the logical problem of evil and considers.
This definition is so vague so changing its meaning also makes nonsense. I then considered three common theological responses to the problem of evil and attempted to provide several objections to them in turn. Mackies purpose is to examine the apparent paradox of evil and omnipotence. In section a, mackie outlines the adequate solutions offered by some religious thinkers. When problems are found with proofs for gods existence, believers can claim that god is known in some other, nonrational way. Omnipotent means allpowerful and that god is capable of anything. Aug 20, 2019 john mackies argument on the problem of evil john mackie was best known for his arguments about right and wrong as presented in both philosophy and religion. In 1955 he published evil and omnipotence which summarized his view that belief in the existence of evil and an allpowerful, allknowing and allgood god be positively irrational. For his discussion at this point seems to me to be superficial, and i think it can be shown that he has failed to provide any compelling or even.
But the theist is not prepared to affirm any of those things. We will explore this view in this essay, but first, let us briefly look at the basic foundation for mackies arguments. Problem of evil proves belief in god irrational not just nonrational a. Mackies evil and omnipotence essay 1652 words 7 pages. The problem of evil oxford readings in philosophy 1st. This contradiction is made apparent as mackie explains that if any two of the propositions are held to.
The only major omission is mackie s failure to address logical inconsistencies in god s supposed attributes, other than the problem of. The problem of evil according to mackie and the efficacy of. Chung phi 2011 2 march 2006 the problem of evil to some evil is necessary for. His discussion of each is intended to make clear the reasons for which they fail to address the real problem. Mackies version of the logical problem of evil is a failure, as even he came to. The problem of evil has also been extended beyond human suffering, to include suffering of animals from cruelty, disease and evil. John mackie and alvin plantinga arguments on the problem of. Mackies version of the logical problem of evil is a failure, as even he came to recognize. Mackies evil and omnipotence essay 1652 words bartleby. Although he admits that these solutions work up to a point, mackie describes them as halfhearted because, he argues, they dont take the idea of evil seriously enough. The problem of evil is one of the most discussed topics in the philosophy of religion.
Mackies essay evil and omnipotence 1955, in which mackie had defended an incompatibility version of the argument from evil, focuses mainly on the question of whether the existence of. Sep 12, 2009 thus the problem of evil is reduced to the theodicity that this is the best of all possible worlds a quiteliterally ridiculous statement, but not a selfcontradicting one. This volume fills that need, offering the most uptodate collection of recent scholarship on the problem of evil. The doctrine of god and the philosophical problem of evil. According to my high school ethic class text book, oriental humanism is a.
In 1955 he published evil and omnipotence which summarized his view that belief in the existence of evil and an allpowerful, allknowing and allgood god was positively irrational. Mackie s version of the logical problem of evil is a failure, as even he came to recognize. But in order for mackies logical argument from evil to work, 5 must be certain. One of the points made by the book of job in the bible is that such is not the case. We should, therefore, state the problem of evil in terms of second order evil, and against this form of the problem the present solution is useless. Recent work on the problem of evil analysis oxford. Analysis of j l mackie s evil and omnipotence free essays. Read this philosophy essay and over 89,000 other research documents. Moral evil and leibnizs formmatter defense of divine omnipotence. L mackie utilizes philosophical analysis to address the problem of evil.
That means that believing in e and believing in god is like believing in a fivesided square. In a widely discussed piece entitled evil and omnipotence john mackie repeats this claim. Mr mackie does an above average job of introducing arguments for the existence of god. Mackies, evil and omnipotence and other kinds of academic papers in our essays database at many essays. Firstly there is evil that does not originate from the choices and actions of moral agents, such as natural evils disasters, diseases, accidents, etc. In god and other minds, in the nature of necessity, and in god, freedom, and evil, for example, plantinga, starting out from an examination of john l. A case against god, but goes into a bit more detail, philosophically speaking. Contrary to current mythology, however, its failure was not established by alvin plantinga s free.
The problem of evil, in th e sense in w hich i shall be using th e phrase, is a problem only for someone w ho believes th at there is a g od w ho is both om nipotent an d w holly good. A nd it is a logical problem, th e problem of clarifying an d reconciling a num ber of beliefs. Mackie uses the problem of evil to show that belief in an all good god is irrational. And yet evil 2 plainly exists, and indeed most theists in other contexts stress its existence more than that of evil 1. The problem of evil, in the sense in which i shall be using the phrase, is a problem only for someone who believes that there is a god who is. Mackies evil and omnipotence, he argues against the existence of god. The philosophical problem of evil is the challenge of reconciling belief in god with evil in the world. In that book he granted that a god and some evil could coexist. He uses the standpoint that god cannot be omnipotent, omnibenevolent, and evil can still exist. Apr 22, 2016 a problem i see is that even in mackie s world, where every agent makes the morally best choice and takes the morally best action, the problem of evil still arises. The year 1996 was a watershed year in the study of the problem of evil with the publication of the evidential problem of evil.
For some time, however, there has been a need for a collection of readings that adequately represents recent and ongoing writing on the topic. Mackie 3 but insofar as one tries to solve the problem of evil by stressing the importance or value of second order good in counterbalancing the existence of first order evil, one falls prey to what mackie calls a fatal objectionthe existence of second order evil like indifference. Even the book of proverbs, despite its occasional flashes of cynicism, essentially. I am going to reply to the mackies version of the problem of evil solution. Damn that evil the problem of evil is an issue that is entirely too overlooked and dismissed by most christians. Mackie agrees that the problem for the theist can be solved by giving up one of the three propositions. Nov 08, 1990 the problem of evil is one of the most discussed topics in the philosophy of religion. Even the freewill defence fails because an omnipotent god should be able to create free creatures who do not choose evil. First, i introduced the general problem of evil and then provided two wellknown formulations of it mackies logical poe and rowes evidential poe. Mar 12, 2007 peter van inwagens the problem of evil is a fairly short book, but only about half of it is devoted to his answer to the problem of evil. Mackie wrote a very convincing piece on the problem of evil called evil and omnipotence, in which he attempts to show that one of the following premises must be false in order for them to be consistent with each other. Contrary to current mythology, however, its failure was not established by alvin plantingas free.
In his bestselling book when bad things happen to good people, rabbi. The case against god, but also far more systematic. Mackie authors and essay entitled, evil and omnipotence. From the beginning of mackie s arguement, reason is something that is suspended to sustain belief. His analysis was presented by the following facts for a syllogism or formula. The miracle of theism is not what mackie is espousing here. My view of the problem of evil in mackies article evil and. Jan 08, 2017 welcome to episode 10 part i of iii on the problem of evil. Logical problem of evil internet encyclopedia of philosophy.