The persistence of evil
I can see why you say that it's not an argument against God - there have been so many theories over the years that every one is counteracted by another. I have to say, though, that I don't agree with you.

When I was studying philosophy I read up on every counter-argument I could find, and I found them all flawed in some way. It depends on your definition of free will really - if you believe ours is unlimited then you can argue that God could still exist in spite of evil.

If, however, like me you believe that our free will is already limited then all the arguments for God in the face of evil fall apart.


For those still reading, take the example of a general who has to attack an enemy emplacement. It turns out he's useless and most of his men are killed. Later on, strategy experts create a plan that would have resulted in far fewer deaths. This option was theoretically open to the general but because he was unable to think of it (his free will was limited by his own mind), it's not something he could have ever done. Unlimited free will is impossible without omnipotence, so it doesn't matter if God intervenes with humanity - he's not affecting something that was unaffected to start with.
( MatJ LOOK, Thu 19 Mar 2009, 17:22, 1 reply)

I'm not sure of this.
I'll respond tomorrow when I'm more sober.

"Professional philosopher" implies "frequently drunk". Sorry.


SOBER UPDATE, 12:00 the following day. Nope. I can't make sense of this. I'll respond tomorrow when I'm more drunk.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Thu 19 Mar 2009, 17:49, closed)

Fair enough
It's probably because, unlike most of my posts, I was sober when I wrote that one...

I was saying that I don't think it possible to defend the existance of evil using the fact that we have free will - without omniscience, we are limited in the number of actions we can think of and/or perform. This means that the Irenaen theodicy (which to my mind is stronger than the Augustine) falls down on the grounds that if our free will is already limited, there's no reason for God not to intervene to prevent evil.
( MatJ LOOK, Wed 25 Mar 2009, 13:47, closed)