Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
What is evil? Essay
Discussion on the problem of evil
Good and evil in human nature
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
More handpicked essays just for you.
What is evil? Essay
Discussion on the problem of evil
Good and evil in human nature
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
If “evil” cannot be understood simply, then similarly, its opposite --“good”-- cannot be comprehended plainly either. For that reason, it can be said that the
Open Your Eyes Good versus evil is a battle as old as mankind. Every second of every day, the score changes. Sometimes, good is winning. Other times, evil. But at the end of day, good always prevails.
The exegetical challenges proposed by the Anonymous Iamblichi and the Double Arguments purports that life is filled with conundrums, thus there is never a single way to view a subject. According to the text, for an individual who conducts what is deemed to be good is really doing a bad deed. For example, when farming is going well and produces good crops it is beneficial to the farmers, yet bad for the merchants. Another example is war, which is good for the winners but bad for the losers.
Questioning if God is not omnipotent, the entire idea of God creating the world can be called into question. Another issue is that if it is said that God is no longer entirely good there is the possibility to say that God has evil or bad intentions, and we should denounce him. Lastly, if one says that evil does not exist, then there is no possible way to separate those people who are considered to be deviants of society. This would mean that those who commit crimes that are evil in nature like murder and rape would be considered to be normal and acceptable.
He describes the objection as, “all men desire the apparent good, but have no control over the appearance, but the end appears to each man in a form answering to his character” (1114b). This view argues that all people pursue that which seems good, but some people cannot see the true good, which is out of their control. The immediate implication of this objection, if it is indeed true, suggests that “no one is responsible for his own evildoing” (1114b).
As shown above, God did create everything, so, if He did create all things, and He did not create evil, then evil must not be a thing (Augustine on Evil). This is an argument made by Greg Koukl. He has a Master’s Degree in Philosophy of Religion and Ethics, a Master’s in Christian Apologetics, and is a professor of Christian Apologetics at Biola University. His argument helps to further prove the points already made above, and really helps to explain the existence of evil.
In this reading reflection I will be discussing Richard Swinburne’s argument on “Why God Allows Evil” which starts on page 254 in “Exploring Philosophy: An Anthology” by Steven M. Cahn. This was also discussed in class on 9/15/16. In his argument Swinburne states that “An omnipotent God could have prevented this evil, and surely a perfectly good and omnipotent God would have done so. So why is there evil?”(Swinburne, 254).
A Questionable Flaw In a fight between good versus evil, good is the recurring victor. However, when the good and evil are fighting within oneself, the outcome is not as desired as we wish it would be. Abraham Lincoln once said, “I would rather be a little nobody than an evil somebody.” Although good should definitely triumph evil, most people struggle between the two and it is a recurrent flaw.
Chapter 22) As it is mentioned, God is the "Creator," thus, leading him to control when the desire comes. Just as God created all and called it good, as God is the source to all, there can be nothing that is not in some sense good in God's eyes. That is the first most affirmation, and because the reality of existence itself is fundamentally good, Evil has to be nothing. It has to be an attempt to annihilate the
God is all-good, all-powerful, and all-knowing. The problem of evil questions: if God is all-good, all-powerful, and all-knowing then how can evil exist? Secondly, the problem of evil questions God’s graciousness, if God desires good and wants humanity to flourish then why does humanity suffer and not
This logical incompatibility between evil and God’s actuality can be made evident in two additional principles provided by Mackie. These are if something is omnipotent, it can do anything and if something is omnibenevolent it will eliminate as much evil as possible. Mackie claims God’s omnipotent characteristic is dependent on him being all powerful. If God is omnipotent than the subjection to limitations, such as the inevitability of evil, should not arise. This first premise is in relation to the second and third because if God is all powerful, wholly good and in existence, the product of his work, our world, should be a reflection of his being.
As omniscient, God can eliminate evil and would have the desire to eliminate it. With the existence of evil in the world, it proves that God is not morally perfect and therefore must not exit. This idea challenges the claim of a perfect God because, a perfect God would end all of the suffering in the world. God created the universe and chose to allow
But, he also believes that the idea of everything having its own logical opposite is only a construction in our mind and that there is no reason that God would have had to create an opposite for good. Using the red/non-red analogy and saying that something is red does not imply that non-red things would have to exist. In this way you could say that just because good exists, non-good, or evil, does not necessarily have to
“Miss Strangeworth is a familiar fixture in a small town where everyone knows everyone else. Little do the townsfolk suspect, though, that the dignified old woman leads another, secret life…”. A secret life can be evil or good, in Miss Strangeworth’s case it is suitable, but do others appreciate this secret life. In The Possibility of Evil Shirley Jackson illustrates inner thinking, revealing action, and symbolism to show how Miss Strangeworth tends the people like her roses, but truly state's them evil.
Classic discussions of the problem of evil have not necessarily made an anthropomorphic distinction. Devastating floods and bloody feuds have been lumped together as evidence calling into question either omnipotence or goodness. If we would attribute something to human agency in these situations seems to make little difference, since a debate whether humans themselves possess a capacity for evil is not really on the table. Why does it matter? We, a (the) product of an (the) omnipotent and omniscient, are his responsibility in any cogent moral sense anyway.