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Questions tagged [problem-of-evil]

The problem of evil is to reconcile the existence of evil with a deity who is omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent.

The problem of evil is to reconcile the existence of evil with a deity who is omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent. This concept of deity corresponds to the views of most Christians nowadays, while the Catholic Church doesn't use the term 'benevolence' in the liturgy or the catechism.

The original formulation of the problem was ascribed to Epicurus by Lactantius. However, modern scholars say that the argument is not only not Epicurean but even anti-Epicurean. In any case, Lactantius quotes:

  1. If an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent god exists, then evil does not.
  2. There is evil in the world.
  3. Therefore, an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent God does not exist.

For more information, see Wikipedia and the SEP.

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Are there any counter arguments to the claim God does not exist because there is evil in the world?

It's been argued that God doesn't exist because there is so much evil in the world. For example, suppose a person is violently murdered - an innocent child say. They argue, God could have prevented that but He didn't, therefore He does not exist. …
Michael Lee
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How do adherents to Plantinga's "free-will defense" against the problem of evil explain that God is free and immune to moral evil at the same time?

The free-will defense is an argument commonly attributed to Alvin Plantinga, who developed it as a response to the logical problem of evil. However, in developing this argument Plantinga unwittingly ended up reinventing/rediscovering the Molinist…
Mark
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Is the logical problem of evil still argued?

Mackie (in "The Miracle of Theism" for instance) has argued that the supposed incompatibility between an all-powerful, all-knowing, and morally perfect God and the existence of evil actually demonstrates an internal inconsistency among many theists'…
florence
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Is the problem of evil due to a fallacy or a paradox?

Informally speaking the problem of evil is pretty straight forward. On one hand: God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent. On the other hand: Evil exists in the world. This is a contradiction because the existence of evil…
Alexander S King
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Is there any ackonowledgement and solution for the objection raised on ontological argument using problem of evil?

Ontological Argument, in its initial verison as presented by Anselm of Canterbury is as follows, The first ontological argument in Western Christian tradition[i] was proposed by Saint Anselm of Canterbury in his 1078 work, Proslogion (Latin:…
Wtjtykajwy
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How do Buddhism, Hinduism, etc. address the 'problem of evil'?

One of the arguments against the existence of god is the problem of evil and specifically, the death of innocent children. I'm curious to know if the concepts of reincarnation and a karmic carry-over from past lives are how Buddhism, Hinduism, and…
coleopterist
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Is evil a necessity?

I do acknowledge the fact that differentiating between good and bad is a next to impossible task due to lack of clarity in their definitions and their relative meanings. It just bothers me that the two counter parts (evil and good) , do they have to…
user34316
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What is a non-circular definition of evil?

I am looking for literature on the definition of “evil”. I have scanned through as many papers as I can, the ones I have read fall in three categories: No definition at all. The author assumes that everybody knows what "evil" is. They start their…
blackened
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Problem with origin of evil

It is often defended by Christians that evil exists because god gave us free will. And god gave us free will basically because he wanted to be truly loved. Not just "loved" by "mindless robots". So Christians are claiming it is not possible to have…
ngc1300
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How would Kierkegaard answer the problem of evil?

Will he consider evil as part of a greater good? Or is it something beyond our reason? What answer would be most consistent with his beliefs?
terrence21
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Why do we punish crime?

I have no formal training whatsoever in philosophy but have a question nonetheless. I am sorry if this is way off topic for this site. Crime begets punishment: let us say that punishment is prison. I can think of three (what I would call…
Collie McLovin
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Is it not logical that anything that a holy God makes must be "less" than Himself?

If God, being perfect, creates something then in some way that thing does not have His attributes. For a start the created things existence depends on the other. Logically they must be different. If being perfect includes being able to create then…
C. Stroud
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Moral arguments against dystheism (in the spirit of James Rachels)

Here's my almost-twenty-years-old memory of Rachels' argument (I read it in an introduction-to-ethics class at a community college): If God existed, there would be a being more important, morally, than our moral autonomy. Nothing can be morally…
Kristian Berry
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Request for a philosopher/mathematician that arrives at a wicked God as the only solution to the problem of evil using formal logic

I was reading the book Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari, and stumbled upon this paragraph on Chapter 12 (translation is mine because the book is in spanish): And thus, monotheism explains order, but is perturbed by evil. Dualism explains evil, but is…
user64708
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What is a good book on the topic of evil in Buddhism?

What is a good philosophical book on the topic of evil in Buddhism?
Sasan
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