Evil and Suffering

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  • Created by: Helen
  • Created on: 12-05-14 17:58
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  • Evil and Suffering
    • Introduction
      • Suffering exists with knowledge
      • Dostoevesky - The Brothers Karamazov
      • The problem of suffering focuses more on the experience of evil and so addresses the problem on a more personal level.
    • The problem of suffering
      • For some religions it's not a problem - Buddhism/Hinduism
      • Christians define God in a certain way
      • The problem of suffering/evil is the contradiction with the attributes of God and the addition of suffering/evil
      • The solution to this problem is called Theodicy - the justification for calling God good in the face of evil
    • St Augustine's Free Will Defence
      • Free agents - human and angel are given free will
      • To be given free will, they must choose to go towards God.
      • If God made it in our nature to go towards God - we wouldn't really be choosing
      • SUMMUM BONUM - highest good
      • Peter Vardy 'created like a robot'
      • Apparent suffering is humans exercising this free will and getting it wrong
      • Adam made a mistake - he was exercising his free will
      • Hugo St Victor - 'It is really good that evil exists because bad things make good things better'
    • The Irenaen Theodicy
      • Man was created imperfect
      • Mankind was created in the image of God but not the likeness of him
      • God gave us the freedom of choice that enables us to be morale agents
      • Kant ' We cannot be blamed for doing wrong if we are forced to do it, and neither are we admirable for doing good if we had no other option'
      • Man is immature and imperfect and prone to making mistakes
      • What we perceive as suffering is God creating an environment where we can grow and develop
      • God does not put every wrong right -Kant 'Value of soul making'
      • Swinburne - you cannot have a second order good without a first order evil

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