Philosophy Unit 2, Topic 4: Good and Evil

What is evil?

St Augustine said that evil is a lack of goodness called "Privatio boni"

Types of evil

• Natural evil= Evil caused by the environment and is not chosen by humans.
• Moral Evil= Evil as a result of a human's thought or actions, that is chosen by humans.n

Problem of evil

Evil exist

God is omnibenvolent                                                                                        God is omnipotent

"God is love"- John                                                           "Is anything too hard for me?"- Jeremiah

The Epicurus inconsitent triad leads to certain conclusions:

• If God is omnibenevolent and he is omnipotent, he would end all evil because he has the ability and motivation to do so.
• If God is not omnipotent then, even if he is omnibenevolent, he does not have the ability to end evil so it exists.
• If God is not omnibenvolent, then he has the ability but not the motivation to end evil, so it exists.

Explanations of evil

The fall of man

In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve were tempted by the serpent to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge of right and wrong, that God commanded them not to. All descendant of Adam have now been born with Original sin on their soul, which stops them from getting into Heaven.

"Death came to all people, because all sinned"- Romans provides evidence for Original sin.

Roman Catholics call it a lack of holiness

Positives

• It explains precisely how evil got into the world, and overcomes the inconsistent triad

Negatives

• Evolution shows…