lecture on theodicies

definition of evil: something that is the source or cause of suffering, injury or destruction.
natural evil: evil that humans suffer at the hands of nature.
moral evil: the evil that humans suffer at the hands of other humans.
necessary evil: evil that is necessary to prevent a greater evil of promote a greater good.
unnecessary evil: evil that is fortuitous (this is REAL evil).
____________________

The Ontological Defense: Goodness cannot exist without evil. So a world without evil is impossible.

Knowledge Defense: Knowledge of evil is important (even to understand goodness) and it cannot exist unless there’s evil in the world.
 
C/A: Suppose this is true, then how can one explain the excess of evil? Unnecessary evil is not justified by the knowledge defense.
 
Free will defense: Evil is necessary for free will. We choose and sometimes we choose evil over good. Defended by: St. Agustin and Alvin Plantinga.

C/A: 1- A being with free will who always chooses good is logically possible. God is such a being. 2- There’s still much more evil in the world that is necessary. Why is unnecessary evil chosen so often? The theist needs to answer this question.

Ideal Humanity Defense: Evil evolves us humans into an ideal humanity.

C/A: There is little evidence that the struggle for survival has improved the human race. One could argue that the advancements we've made in science are not the result of natural evil.Finally, the ideal humanity defense seems to contradict the Christian principle that each human is of infinite value.
 
Character (or soul) building defense: According to philosopher/theologian John Hicks, evil is not wrong for our own sake.

C/A: It works both ways, suffering can also debase us. If this is true, then fighting evil becomes wrong (you shouldn’t alleviate a person’s suffering because it’s good for her character)