ACADEMIC YEAR 2019/20, SEMESTER 2 GET1029/GEK1067

JEREMIAS KOH
WEEK 9 TUTORIAL 7

Tutorial 7: Problem of Evil

Reading: Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Rebellion

1. The Argument from Evil

(1) If God exists, there is no unnecessary evil.

(2) There is unnecessary evil.
(3) Therefore, God does not exist.

2. Challenging Premise (2)

The Free Will Defense: In order to create us as free beings, God has to endow us with wills over
which even he has no control. Unfortunately, some people exercise their freedom of will to do
great harm. This harm is the inevitable price of human freedom.

Atheist Reply: (1) The free will defense assumes we have free will; many philosophers deny this. (2) If
there is no logical impossibility in a man’s freely choosing the good on one occasion, there cannot be
a logical impossibility in his freely choosing the good on every occasion. There is open to God the
possibility of making beings who would act freely but always go right. (3) Why doesn’t God intervene
to minimize harm? What’s worse? Having a bunch of callous but harmless people, or a bunch of
people who burn out children’s eyes, rape their own daughters, and exterminate ethnic minorities? (4)
How about evils not caused by free will?

The Contrast Defense: We would not appreciate the good things in life unless we were exposed to
bad things too.

Atheist Reply: (1) But why do we need so much evil -- moral as well as natural-- in order to appreciate
the good things in life? And what about bad things that happen without anyone knowing? (2) Are bad
things really necessary for an appreciation of good things?

Spiritual Development Defense: The reason why God allows evil to take place is that this evil is
good for us. A human being cannot realize his or her full spiritual potential without confronting
some evil (moral or natural).

Atheist Reply: (1) Too much evil might lead to a stunting/ ending of spiritual development, (2) Why is
it that some spiritually underdeveloped people never suffer enough to promote spiritual
development?

Hidden Necessity Defense: We cannot see how a loving, powerful, and wise God could let all these
bad things happen. But that is just because we have a limited point of view.

Atheist Reply: If God only allows evils that are absolutely necessary for a greater good, we should be
grateful for all the evils of our world.

Practice MCQs

1. “The Free Will Defense is an attempt to explain all of the evil in our world in a way that’s
consistent with theism.” This statement is

True
False

2. Which of the following, if true, would undermine the Free Will Defense?

A. There’s no such thing as free will.

ACADEMIC YEAR 2019/20, SEMESTER 2 GET1029/GEK1067
JEREMIAS KOH
WEEK 9 TUTORIAL 7

B. Having free will is just a matter of acting out of a desire to do good or harm.

C. Freedom of will isn’t good for its own sake, but only for the sake of the happiness that people
sometimes cause with their free actions.

D. All of the above.

E. None of the above.

3. Ivan Karamazov suggests that no omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent God would allow
an innocent child to suffer horrible torture and death, even if that were the only possible way to
create a universe of tremendous overall happiness. Which of the following statements, if true, would
cast doubt on this suggestion?

A. Not all religions conceive of God as omnipotent, omniscient, and benevolent.

B. Utilitarianism is true.

C. A certain amount of atrocious behavior is inevitable in a world in which people have free will.

D. All of the above.

E. None of the above.

4. Jim doesn’t believe that God exists. Jim is definitely

A. A Theist

B. An Agnostic

C. An Atheist

D. None of the above

5. Consider the following argument

(1) If there is X, there is no Y.

(2) There is Y.
(3) There is no X.

Sam says “If there is no X, the above argument is unsound”. What Sam says is

A. True

B. False

Week 7 Practice MCQs Answers and Explanations

1.“If you never do anything morally wrong, you’re not morally responsible for anything you do.” This
statement is

True
False
ACADEMIC YEAR 2019/20, SEMESTER 2 GET1029/GEK1067
JEREMIAS KOH
WEEK 9 TUTORIAL 7

There are other ways in which you might be considered morally responsible for the things you do. For
example, if you did things that are morally right, you might still be considered morally responsible for
the things you do.

2.“Hume’s view as discussed in lecture is that you deserve blame for an action only if you successfully
act on a harmful desire.” This statement is

True
False

Hume gives a sufficient condition for deserving blame, not a necessary condition. Note the difference
between “you deserve blame if you act successfully on a harmful desire” and “you deserve blame only
if you act successfully on a harmful desire”. This relates to the distinction between “if” and “only if”
touched on in our first or second tutorial.

3. Which of the following statements, if true, undermines Strawson’s argument against moral
responsibility?

A.The world is deterministic.

B.The world is indeterministic.
C.There are good reasons to praise and blame others.
D.An event can be uncaused without being uncontrollable.
E.None of the above

If an event can be uncaused without being uncontrollable, then that would undermine Strawson’s
criticism of Sartrean freedom. This would in turn undermine premise 1 (in the handout)- we might be
morally responsible according to the control principle if the world is indeterministic and uncased
events are somehow not out of our control.

4. Sam is very sick. Sally tells him that if he does not seek immediate medical attention, he will die
within the hour. Sam says “If causal determinism is true, I will die within the hour whether or not I
seek immediate medical attention”. Is Sam right?

A.Yes
B.No

Sam is not right because the truth of determinism says nothing about the causal impact of seeking
medical attention. If determinism is true, then whether or not Sam seeks medical attention is
determined by events stretching back to the first event (if there was a first event). This doesn’t mean
that the action of ‘seeking medical attention’ is causally inert, and that the same thing will happen
whether or not Sam seeks medical attention.