Evil

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Evil is a word that is quite overused by the Daily Mail and often appears in philosophy. Sociologically speaking, it is the limit of "I/we don't like that." It is the opposite of "good" in the moral spectrum and is simply defined by Merriam-Webster as "morally reprehensible."[1]To endure some suffering is a sign that evil is about. The definition of an activity as evil varies with time, place and circumstance. An example was slavery, widely considered evil today, but not condemned in the source of all morality.

Contents

[edit] The Problem of Evil

Main article: Problem of evil

The problem of evil is either a problem which many religious people find hard to reconcile with the notion of a loving God, or a weapon atheists use to prove how God either has to be a vile jackass or incapable of stopping bad things from happening (which would mean He isn't all powerful, the horror!) Attempts to solve the problem form a big part of the philosophy of religion, and the actual problem can be stated as follows:

How could an all-loving and all powerful God allow evil things to happen?

Or, if you prefer a much more Epicurean formation:

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?

[edit] Theist strategies

  • The justified evil theory - God is aware of the evil in the world, but the evil has the purpose of making humanity better. One form of this argument is the Irenaean Theodicy, which states that suffering evil betters the spirits of individuals and moves them closer to God. It also states that a perfect world is one in which evil things occur, since a perfect world is one which allows people to develop spiritually. Another, simpler form, is that evil exists because it separates those who deserve to go to Heaven from those who don't, or that evil doesn't matter because good people get rewarded in Heaven anyway.
  • Skeptical theism - We cannot possibly know the reason that evil exists in the world, due to our puny humanness. God has a plan but we can't know what it is, so quit complaining about all that genocide artificial selection and get on with it.
  • The privation theory - Evil doesn't exist, it's just the absence of good, just like darkness is just the absence of light. See: Augustine of Hippo and bullshit.
  • The morality-implies-God theory - The old "if something is evil that means there's a God because evil implies a universal standard of morality" switcheroo (how this actually makes painful suffering justified is beyond the comprehension of any rational person)
  • The blame Satan strategy - Satandidit.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Footnotes

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