Presence of evil in the world around us is clearly an undeniable and important part of our human experience. We all suffer. Meaning of evil is discovered from our experience and how we express it in our language. Not as philosophical argumentation, but common meaning, Evil is expressed as the opposite of Good. Something we want to turn away from, harmful, destructive, repugnant, unpleasant, etc. Challenge Every Being is Good Every real being because it has some degree of real existence of its own is good, and to be valued as such. St. Thomas: only real, actually existent beings can properly be called good because of their participation in the act of existence. This excludes purely mental beings: ideas, possibilities, mathematical and logical entities, hypotheses, etc. Good as Transcendental Property of Being: Every Being is Good Every being as being is good: Evil as positive reality is unintelligible. Every being ultimately comes from God as its creative source, thus impossible to be intrinsically evil but it can produce evil effect on something else. Every being is good for every spiritual intellect and will. The fact that something is at all, it participates in the fundamental ground of all perfection. (mosquito) The existence of evil is a serious metaphysical problem 1. What is the nature and status in being of evil? How can being be both good and evil at the same time? 2. Is the existence of a good God compatible with the presence of evil in the world? Why doesnt He prevent evil? If He allows it, is He responsible for it, and morally evil Himself?
Nature and Status in Being Evil Opinions Evil is a positive being or aspect of a being (Mazdeism and Zoroastrianism) Both good and evil and positive beings, derived from two ultimate sources or gods who are in conflict over the mastery of the world. Matter is primary source of evil. Many Gnostic and heretical Christian sects carried on this tradition and tried to infiltrate orthodox Christianity which fought against is in the name of goodness of all creation. Evil is merely the metaphysical status of all finite beings as imperfect, lacking some perfection possessed by God. (Leibniz) Evil is a subjective illusion (Spinoza) due to our incomplete finite view of the universe from a limited human perspective. True wisdom is to wake up to this higher point of view, where evil melts away like mist by rising sun! Evil as a Negation - Depravation Solution worked out by St. Augustine and refined by St. Thomas: 1. Evil cannot be a positive being or mode of being, but is rooted in some form of negation. Any time we recognize a case of evil we discover that it cannot be located until we come to some negative or not-being element (germs are not evil in their own being) Hatred is the opposite of love. Thus evil is the absence or deprivation of good. Death is depravation of life. The core of evil is never located until we find some absence, until we hit this negative core, there is no reason to call anything evil. Evil is a Privation of a Due Good Evil cannot consist simply in a negation, an absence, by itself. This is impossible, otherwise every finite being that lacks perfection in some order would have to be declared evil (tree is not evil because it cannot see) Evil has to be of a special kind of negation that we call a PRIVATION. Evil is the privation in some being of good that should be there, Evil is the PRIVATION OF A DUE GOOD. Evil is a hole in Being.
What about physical Pain? It may seem paradoxical that evil is not a real being, but a privation residing in a good being. Objection: This explanation may work for many evils, but not for all. PAIN is not just an absence of pleasure, but it seems to have a positive feeling, unnecessary especially if its incurable and doesnt serve any real purpose. Response: its primary purpose is to be a positive messenger, to bring our attention that something needs to be done about the wrong in the organism. This messenger manifests itself in an unpleasant way to fulfill its job to cause an action. It is more as positive-negative feeling rather than evil. How about Hatred? Hatred is evil will, or wish, toward somebody that is willing a privation of being toward someone else, negation of good. Act of willing this evil seems clearly to be a positive act, filled often with energy and intensity. It is hard to believe that it is only a privation. Response: The core of willing evil is to will negation of being on another, its a privation It is a privation in the dynamic order of action itself. There is no lack of action, but its fundamentally disordered action. We cannot deny that there is an element of positive action, but that that the action is rotten at its core because of the privation of a properly human goal and intention Kinds of Evil Physical Evil privation of some good due to a being or its action in the ontological order of its actual existence compared to what its nature is naturally ordered to be (blindness, sickness, injury, etc) Moral evil privation of some good due in an action producet by some free responsible moral agent, compared to moral norm of Good and Bad moral actions. Evil goal or intent What is the Cause of Evil SPECIAL PROBLEM: A cause is something that makes another being to be, in whole or in part. If evil is not a real being, but a privation of some due good, how can it be a real effect of a cause? Evil can result from a defect in the power of the agent or some defect in the material the agent has to work on, so the effect produced lacks full perfection
Evil can result from the fact that the cause, in producing one positive effect or good, thereby excludes from being some other higher good that should be present. Moral evil always consist in saying NO to some good that should be allowed or helped to be, instead of saying YES as we should have. God and Evil One of the most difficult problems that a philosophy of God must face (atheists cite this quite often) Argument: If God is omnipotent, he could prevent all evil, and if he is All-good he would do so, but he does not. Thus it follows that he is either not omni- potent or All-good, in either case such being could not be God. General Response: It is not the case that a morally good and wise person is bound to prevent any evil wherever it is possible to do so (a wise parent can allow his children to suffer small hurts in order to train them) Also, the gift of intelligent freedom allows us to exercise it, in order that greater good can come out of it.
The Burden of Proof The burden of proof is on the objector to demonstrate clearly that there is no higher good possible out of God permitting certain evil. The fact that the existence of evil remains a mystery for us in this life in no way entails that any valid objection can be drawn from this against the existence of a wise and good and omnipotent God Any adequate evidence to do so is beyond our reach (unreachable future) Physical Evil Physical evil is privation of ontological good brought about nature without direct intervention of human free will (disease, injury, accidents, etc.) God responsible by the initial cause of these laws of nature? Natural laws govern dynamic operation: otherwise there is no way living organisms could learn from experience if there is no chance of their getting hurt from anything they do in violation of such laws. Objector might complain that wouldnt it be better to create the world where such evils dont exist or with less evil? Such world would eliminate need for virtues: no fortitude, courage, disciplined temperance, and others. Moral Evil Moral evil is rooted in the disordered willing of a free created person God is not the cause of moral evil, nor responsible for it. We are created as dynamic agents He does not cause us to say NO to the higher good that should be here, which is the root of moral evil. We alone are responsible for it. God cooperates with us in our YESs not in our NOs, so God is not to be blamed. Objection: Couldnt God intervene and stop some of the horrendous events that occurred in the history of human kind? Who says that he hasnt? Once you put such obligation on God, where does that requirement stop?
Conclusion It is not up to theists to provide the exact reason why God permits a particular moral evil, but only to show that no cogent objection can be made forbidding him to act thus, and that there are positive reasons for the wisdom of his plan.