ipl-logo

Problem Of Evil Mackie Analysis

1089 Words5 Pages

The existence of God has been presented by a multitude of philosophers. However, this has led to profound criticism and arguments of God’s inexistence. The strongest argument in contradiction to God’s existence is the Problem of Evil, presented by J.L Mackie. In this paper, I aim to describe the problem of evil, analyse the objection of the Paradox of Omnipotence and provide rebuttals to this objection. Thus, highlighting my support for Mackie’s Problem of evil. Mackie’s argument highlights the inconsistency that arises between the premises of God’s existence. Mackie proposes the problem of evil to be that “God is omnipotent; God is wholly good; [God exists]; and yet evil exists” (Mackie, 1955, p.200). Mackie states these four propositions cannot coexist, therefore, if evil exists, God cannot and conversely, if God is real evil must be …show more content…

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. It should entail a world with no evil, instead heavily endorsed with goodness. Mackie identifies this when he states “Good is opposed to evil, in such a way that a good thing always eliminates evil as far

Show More
Related
1508 Words | 7 Pages

Mackie believes that there are no objective moral values, and to support his stand, he famously puts forth two arguments. The first argument is the Argument from Relativity or Disagreement, and the second is the Argument from Queerness. The focus of this essay will be on Mackie’s argument from queerness, and I seek to prove that his argument does not succeed in showing that there are no objective values. I will first be summarizing Mackie’s argument from queerness. Subsequently, I will proceed to form an argument on the first part of Mackie’s argument from queerness, the metaphysical component.

Read More
378 Words | 2 Pages

The ontological argument states that perfection is a part of the concept of God, and that perfection entails existence, and so the concept of God entails God’s existence. However, it can be argued that if God is an infinite goodness, then its contrary, evil, should not exist. Alas, there is evil in the world, and, therefore, God cannot exist. The ontological argument also seeks to demonstrate that God exists on the basis of concept alone. Pascal’s Wager attempts to justify the belief in God with an

Read More
777 Words | 4 Pages

Mackie starts off by claiming this reply limits God’s supposed abilities. If God is incapable of creating good without also creating evil, then how can God be omnipotent? Logically, he cannot. Mackie also states that the idea of evil being a counterpart to good creates relativism between the two and become forms of comparison. This ignites the idea that God believes not in goodness but in the better.

Read More
1706 Words | 7 Pages

The purpose of this essay is to explore Peter Van Inwagen’s take on Free Will, as well as how he uses it to respond to The Problem of Evil. It will also cover objections to his Free Will Defense and his responses to them as well as my own personal responses. The Problem of Evil is the age old argument that since there are so many horrendous evils and cruelties happening in the world, God cannot exist. This is because God is a morally perfect and omnipotent being, and because he is good, he could never allow the horrors of the world come into play.

Read More
1202 Words | 5 Pages

Moral realism is the common belief that there are objective moral values. David Brink states that a “fairly clear core element in moral realism” is that “(1) there are moral facts or truths, and (2) these facts or truths are independent of the evidence for them”. (1) and (2) are not sufficient conditions for all forms of moral realism, according to Brink, but he believes they are necessary, so rejecting them means rejecting moral realism. This is what JL Mackie intends to do in his arguments from queerness and relativity. The argument from queerness is more convincing than the argument from relativity, but

Read More
1054 Words | 5 Pages

Daniel Ertel Professor Hunt Phil 1010-01 October 1st, 2016 Is Gods Existence compatible with the existence of evil? One of the most dated arguments on the topic of God’s existence is whether its’ existence is compatible with the existence of evil. In his dissertation, “The Problem of Evil,” by Richard Swinburne, he attempts to demonstrate how evil can coexist in a world created by an omnipotent (all-powerful) and benevolent being. In his first objection, he argues that there is an omnipotent and omnibenevolent God in a universe that contains coexisting forces.

Read More
933 Words | 4 Pages

In Mackie’s Fallacious Situation, there are four main points that are discussed. One of the points is “Good must exist with evil”. Another is that “Evil is necessary as a means to good”. Another one is that “The universe is better with some evil in it that it could be if there were no evil”, and lastly is “Evil is due to human freewill”. These ideas try to explore the co-existence of evil and good in the same

Read More
436 Words | 2 Pages

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).

Read More
295 Words | 2 Pages

JL Mackie was persuasive in his argument by showing that belief in an almighty God is not rational. He proves this by posing the problem of evil. According to JL Mackie, if God exists and is omniscient, omnipotent, and good then evil would not exist. However, evil exists in this world, sometimes in the form of undeserved suffering (diseases that affect humans, earthquakes, famines ...) and others perpetrated by man (murders, wars ...). If God exists and has the capability to be powerful, good, omniscient and omnipotent, why would he let evil be perpetrated?

Read More
1284 Words | 6 Pages

The logical argument concerning the problem of evil stems from two propositions that seem difficult to hold true at the same time: there exists an omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent God and there are great amounts of suffering and evil in the world. This argument concludes that since there is moral and natural evil in the world, that an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent God cannot exist since an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent God would not create evil, or would at least seek to destroy it. To argue against this, the free-will defense is used. The free-will defense is successful as it provides a reason for moral evil, but it fails to address natural evil. However, it is still logically consistent to believe in

Read More
1797 Words | 8 Pages

In this essay, I will set out to prove that Thomas Aquinas’ First Cause Argument does not show that God exists and the conclusion that God exists does not follow from the premises of the first cause argument. I do think that the conclusion is valid and could be sound/or has the potential to be, but the premises fail to provide the basis upon which to reach such a conclusion. Hence, I will be raising some objections to the premises and will try to disprove any counter-arguments that could be raised in its defense. This would be done by examining Aquinas’ First Cause Argument and trying to disprove it whilst countering arguments in its defense.

Read More
1372 Words | 6 Pages

Although God’s existence and the validity of the experiences that may imply God’s existence is still not known, it is enough to say that logically, evil can exist along with God and his properties, even in today’s

Read More
531 Words | 3 Pages

The scholarly issue of underhandedness concerns how to give a reasonable clarification of how God and insidiousness can exist together. The passionate issue of underhandedness concerns how to break up individuals' enthusiastic abhorrence of a God who might allow enduring. Presently we should take a gander at the scholarly issue of wickedness. There are two forms of this issue: to start with, the coherent issue of malice, and second, the probabilistic issue of insidiousness.

Read More
877 Words | 4 Pages

On the other hand, theists like Swinburne, believe that evil is necessary for important reasons such as that it helps us grow and improve. In this paper I will argue that the theist is right, because the good of the evil in this specific case on problems beyond one’s control, outweighs the bad that comes from it. I will begin by stating the objection the anti-theodicist gives for why it is wrong that there is a problem of evil. (<--fix) Regarding passive evil not caused by human action, the anti-theodicist claims that there is an issue with a creator, God, allowing a world to exist where evil things happen, which are not caused by human beings (180-181).

Read More
929 Words | 4 Pages

A lot of arguments have been known to prove or disprove the existence of God, and the Problem of Evil is one of them. The Problem of Evil argues that it is impossible to have God and evil existing in the same world. Due to ideal characteristics of God, evil should not have a chance to exist and make human suffer. In this essay, I will examine the argument for the Problem of Evil, a possible theodicy against the argument, and reply to the theodicy. First of all, to be clear, the Problem of Evil is an argument that shows that God cannot be either all- powerful, all-knowing, and/or all good.

Read More

More about Problem Of Evil Mackie Analysis

Open Document