Philosophy 1600 - Honors Seminar

 

Topic 7: Atheism and Arguments from Evil

Logical Incompatibility Formulations of the Argument from Evil

Logical incompatibility formulations of the argument from evil claim that it is a logical contradiction to assert both that God exists and that there is evil in the world - or, alternatively, that there is a certain type of evil, or a certain amount of evil in the world.

1. Formulation 1 of a Logical Incompatibility Argument from Evil  

Here is one typical formulation of such an argument:

(1)  An omnipotent being would have the power to produce the best of all possible worlds.    [Premise]

(2)  An omniscient being would know what the best of all possible worlds was like, and would know whether he had succeeded in producing it.    [Premise]

(3)  A perfectly good being would attempt to produce the best of all possible worlds, if it thought that it could do so.    [Premise]

(4)  Therefore a being that was omnipotent, omniscient, and perfectly good would produce the best of all possible worlds.    [From (1), (2) and (3).]

(5)  The best of all possible worlds would not contain any intrinsically undesirable states of affairs.    [Premise]

(6)  Therefore a being that was omnipotent, omniscient, and perfectly good would produce a world that contained no intrinsically undesirable states of affairs.    [From (4) and (5).]

(7)  God is, by definition, omnipotent, omniscient, and perfectly good.    [Premise]

(8)  Therefore, if God exists, the world will not contain any intrinsically undesirable states of affairs.    [From (6) and (7).]

(9)  But the world does contain intrinsically undesirable states of affairs.    [Premise]

(10)  Therefore God does not exist.    [From (8) and (9).]

The thrust of this argument, in brief, is that it follows from the assumption that God exists that the world does not contain any intrinsically undesirable states of affairs.  The existence of God is therefore logically incompatible with the existence of intrinsically undesirable states of affairs.  But, then, since there are intrinsically undesirable states of affairs, it cannot be the case that God exists.

 2. An Objections to this Version of a Logical Incompatibility Argument from Evil

One objection that can be raised to the above formulation of the argument from evil is this:

There is no best of all possible worlds, since for any world whatever, no matter how good, there could always be a better world.

It is not clear that this claim is correct.  But neither is it clear that it is incorrect.  Consequently, it seems best to reformulate the argument in order to avoid making the assumption that there is a best of all possible worlds.

3. Formulation 2 of a Logical Incompatibility Argument from Evil

(1)  An omnipotent being would have the power to eliminate, immediately, any intrinsically undesirable state of affairs that could not be prevented.    [Premise]

(2)  An omniscient being would know of the existence of any intrinsically undesirable state of affairs, and would know whether he had succeeded in eliminating it.    [Premise]

(3)  A perfectly good being would attempt to prevent the occurrence of intrinsically undesirable states of affairs whenever possible, and would attempt to eliminate, at the first opportunity, any intrinsically undesirable states of affairs that could not be prevented, whenever it thought that it could do so.    [Premise]

(4)  Therefore a being that was omnipotent, omniscient, and perfectly good would prevent the occurrence of intrinsically undesirable states of affairs whenever possible, and would eliminate any that could not be prevented, doing so as soon as they occurred.    [From (1), (2) and (3).]

(5)  God is, by definition, omnipotent, omniscient, and perfectly good.    [Premise]

(6)  Therefore, if God exists, any intrinsically undesirable states of affairs whose existence can be prevented, will be prevented, while any whose existence cannot be prevented, and which happen to come into existence, will be immediately eliminated.    [From (4) and (5).]

(7)  But the world does contain both intrinsically undesirable states of affairs whose existence could have been prevented by an omnipotent and omniscient being, and intrinsically undesirable states of affairs that are not being immediately eliminated..    [Premise]

(8)  Therefore God does not exist.    [From (6) and (7).]

4. Two Important Objections to the Revised Logical Incompatibility Argument from Evil

There are a number of responses that might be made to the above argument, but some of those responses are rather weak.  At least two objections, however, seem very promising:

Objection 1:    Evil as a Logically Necessary Means to a Greater Good.

Objection 2:    The Free Will Defense.