Existence of Evil
Instructions: The student will determine their own unique position on a philosophical issue, and craft their own original arguments and examples to defend and support that position against possible counter-arguments. Students should avoid first-person expressions (until the concluding persuasive paragraph.)
PARAMETERS
The essay must be a minimum of 500 words plus a Works Cited page. The essay must be formatted in standard Turabian format: 1” margins, Times New Roman font, 12-point font, double-spaced, pages numbered at top right with last name, first page formatted with information and centered title. Citations should be footnoted and follow Turabian conventions.
Students should decide on three elements to successfully complete the assignment:
1.Choose a philosophical position stated in the form of a thesis/proposition. Example: Free will is impossible because all events must have material causes (hard determinist perspective).
2.Identify three arguments in support of their position. Each argument should be followed by a clear example that illustrates the argument.
3.Anticipate and identify at least two counter-arguments (ideally, the two strongest counter-arguments) and defend against them. This may be done together with or separately from the arguments in support.
Solution.
Existence of Evil
[1]There is the philosophical stand for and against the existence of evil. Two plausible assumptions have been relied upon when examining whether or not evil exists. First, there is an assumption that if God exist, then He is omnipotent, perfectly good and omniscient. The second assumption is that if God is the creator of everything on earth; He created evil as well. Other philosophers believe that God created only the good things on earth and had no intention to hurt the human beings. Therefore, God and evil cannot exist at the same time; if God exists, then evil cannot exist.
However, not everyone believes of the assumptions mentioned above. First, some people deny that God is morally good and second, others cannot refute the existence of evil. Human kind cannot deny the existence of evil on earth. The widespread of suffering have been on the rise. Day in, day out people suffer both emotionally and physically; evil deeds confront people every day. Some people do not believe in the existence of evil since God controls the world as the creator.
Some of the Christian scientists are the example of the people who believe that evil is illusory. However, an assumption that evil is an illusion does not hold waters. For example, how can someone explain the existence of deadly diseases, earthquakes, storms and tsunamis that have claimed the lives of hundreds of people as a mere illusion? Diseases are associated with suffering which is an element of evil. How do we believe that evil does not exist when diseases, earthquakes, storms and tsunamis do? To some extent, objective suffering can be described as illusory, but subjective suffering should not be treated as such.
According to the Thomist and Augustinian view, evil cannot be a good and positive thing. The theory states that evil exist in the world because there is an absence of goods things. The view holds that God always means the good for the world and cannot be blamed for the existence evil. Therefore, the idea that evil exists in the world should be treated as illusions since God did not create it from the start. In other words, God only created the good things in the world. Therefore, Evil can only arise from the absence of good.
Why should a loving God create evil that would give rise to suffering and evil that would harm His creatures? Different people have a different opinion when it comes to explaining the existence of God and evil. Both the emotional and mental problem of evil can be used to examine this topic. The mental problem comprises of both the both the logical and the probabilistic problems. The mental problem maintains that God and evil cannot co-exist if God exists, and then evil does not exist while the opposite is true. According to the theists, God and evil cannot be compatible. However, the question has to why God has allowed the evil to exist remains unanswered to date.
In my opinion based on the existing theory, God gave the humankind the power to choose between the good and the evil and does not have the authority to eliminate the evil from the world. There is no way that good can exist without evil. It is difficult for either of the two phenomena to exist without one another.
Bibliography
Buckingham, Will, and Peter J King. The Philosophy Book. New York: DK, 2011.
Zalta, Edward N. Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford, CA 94305: Metaphysics Research Lab,
2010.
[1]Buckingham, Will, and Peter J King. The Philosophy Book. New York: DK, 2011.
1 Buckingham, Will, and Peter J King. The Philosophy Book. New York: DK, 2011.
2 Zalta, Edward N. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford, CA 94305: Metaphysics Research Lab, 2010.