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    It is not true that a perfectly good being would want to ... — Carmelics
    Home/Problem of Evil
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    It is not true that a perfectly good being would want to eliminate all evils.

    Problem of Evil
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    2 reasons for
    1 reason against

    Reasons For

    2 perspectives
    Reason for 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.A perfectly good being values the autonomy and moral agency of persons, which requires genuine freedom to choose evil without divine interference.
      ?

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    • 2.Eliminating all evil would require either eliminating free creatures or constantly overriding their choices, both of which destroy the good of authentic moral agency.
      ?

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    • 3.Therefore, a perfectly good being, precisely because of its goodness, would preserve the conditions for free agency even at the cost of permitting evil acts.
      ?

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    Reason for 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.John Hick's Irenaean theodicy holds that soul-making—the development of virtues like courage, compassion, and perseverance—requires real adversity and suffering as its occasion.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.A being with perfect goodness oriented toward persons' highest flourishing would prefer a world containing genuine moral and spiritual development over a frictionless but morally shallow paradise.
      ?

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    • 3.Thus a perfectly good being would not want to eliminate evils that are instrumentally necessary for the highest form of personal and moral development.
      ?

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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Some evils are such that their actuality, or at least their possibility, is logically necessary for goods that outweigh them.
      ?

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    • 2.A perfectly good being would not want to eliminate evils that are logically necessary for outweighing goods.
      ?

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    Problem of Evil

    Related

    A being with perfect goodness oriented toward persons' highest flourishing would...A perfectly good being values the autonomy and moral agency of persons, which re...A perfectly good being would not want to eliminate evils that are logically nece...Eliminating all evil would require either eliminating free creatures or constant...
    +4 moreShow less
    John Hick's Irenaean theodicy holds that soul-making—the development of virtues ...Some evils are such that their actuality, or at least their possibility, is logi...Therefore, a perfectly good being, precisely because of its goodness, would pres...Thus a perfectly good being would not want to eliminate evils that are instrumen...

    Similar

    A perfectly good being would not want to eliminate evils that are logi...90%If some evils are logically necessary for greater goods, a morally per...89%Premise (4)—that if God is morally perfect, then God has the desire to...83%A wholly good being cannot be the ultimate cause of bad things80%

    Source

    AI-extracted
    SEP: evil
    View source passageHide passage
    The problem with that premise, as we saw, is that it can be argued that some evils are such that their actuality, or at least their possibility, is logically necessary for goods that outweigh them, in which case it is not true that a perfectly good being would want to eliminate such evils.

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (2 for, 1 against)
    Edits
    1 edit