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    The evidential argument from evil, as Draper formulates i... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→If one is defending a probabilistic version of the argument from evil, one needs to consider what sorts of positive reasons might be offered in support of the existence of God.

    The evidential argument from evil, as Draper formulates it, challenges not theism simpliciter but the likelihood ratio between theism and naturalism.

    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    1 reason against

    Reasons For

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    • 1.Draper's formulation explicitly compares P(evil|theism) to P(evil|naturalism), making it a comparative likelihood argument rather than absolute refutation.
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    • 2.Theistic responses can preserve God's existence by adjusting auxiliary hypotheses about divine purposes, showing the argument targets comparative plausibility.
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    • 3.Naturalism predicts indifference to suffering; theism predicts benevolent intervention—their predicted frequencies of evil genuinely differ in probabilistic strength.
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    Reasons Against

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    • 1.Even if evil is more probable under naturalism, this doesn't avoid undercutting core theistic commitments about omnipotence and benevolence unless both are retained.
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    • 2.Comparing likelihoods between theism and naturalism presupposes prior probabilities and background knowledge that heavily favor one framework, making the comparison circular.
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    • 3.Draper's approach still requires showing evil makes theism less probable than alternatives—not merely that naturalism predicts evil better, which are different claims.
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    Problem of Evil1 linked

    Related

    Comparing likelihoods between theism and naturalism presupposes prior probabilit...Draper's approach still requires showing evil makes theism less probable than al...Draper's formulation explicitly compares P(evil|theism) to P(evil|naturalism), m...Even if evil is more probable under naturalism, this doesn't avoid undercutting ...
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    If one is defending a probabilistic version of the argument from evil, one needs...Naturalism predicts indifference to suffering; theism predicts benevolent interv...Theistic responses can preserve God's existence by adjusting auxiliary hypothese...

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    2 (1 for, 1 against)
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