Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. Photo by Damon Lam on Unsplash. Originating with Greek philosopher Epicurus, the logical argument from evil is as follows:. From this, such a God should want to prevent evil, yet much evil exists. If an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent god exists, then evil does not. Therefore, an all good, all powerful God does not exist. If God exists and is... Epicurus, bronze bust from a Greek original. Problem of evil, problem in theology and the philosophy of religion that arises for any view that affirms the following three propositions: God is almighty, God is perfectly good, and evil exists. An argument from evil attempts to show that the co-existence of evil and such a God is unlikely or impossible. If God exists, then evil cannot exist. Problem of Evil: God, Man, Love and Evil To properly address the Problem of Evil, one must consider the nature of God, the nature of man, the nature of love, and the nature of evil. These attempts, however, often presumed that human reason could define the transcendent. Why is any evil…, …creation and the existence of evil in history (i.e., the problem of theodicy). The Problem of Deciding What Is Evil. If God is all-good, he would want to eliminate all evil. If there exists an omnipotent, omniscient, and perfectly good being, then no evil exists. A defense need not argue that this is a probable or plausible explanation, only that the defense is logically possible. But it’s not God’s problem: It’s ours. The Problem of Evil is a strong argument against the concept of God accepted by some Christians, Jews and Muslims.This is an argument against the classical definition of god. Problem of evil, problem in theology and the philosophy of religion that arises for any view that affirms the following three propositions: God is almighty, God is perfectly good, and evil exists. A God that is all knowing would know that evil and suffering happen. The second part in a series on the Problem of Evil designed for people studying Philosophy of Religion at AS/A2 Level. This “problem” of evil has always demanded an explanation for the apparent tension. Start studying The Problem of Evil. The Problem of Evil. No When I ponder both the extent and depth of suffering in the world, whether due to man’s inhumanity to man or to natural disasters, then I must confess that I find it hard to believe that God exists. In these religions, the question to answer is how an all-loving and all-powerful god could allow evil to exist. The argument from evil (or problem of evil) is the argument that an all-powerful, all-knowing, and perfectly good God would not allow any—or certain kinds of—evil or suffering to … Gilligan, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ", The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ", The formulation may have been wrongly attributed to Epicurus by Lactantius, who, from his, TIP: The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist, Tutorials in Quantitative Methods for Psychology, Pain and Pleasure: An Evidential Problem for Theists, http://www.angelfire.com/mn2/tisthammerw/rlgnphil/poe.html, http://www.keyway.ca/htm2002/whysufer.htm, The Supposed Problem of Evil, biblicalstudies.org/journal/v006n01.html, A Rational and Biblical Approach to the Problem of Hell, Gregory S. Neal: "The Nature of Evil and the Irenaean Theodicy", Putting God on Trial — The Biblical Book of Job, A debate between theist William Lane Craig and atheist Kai Neilsen, A selection of articles on good and evil in Judaism, Project Gutenburg: Leibniz, Theodicy (English translation), Dr. Barry L. Whitney, preeminent figure on theodicies, https://psychology.wikia.org/wiki/Problem_of_evil?oldid=117336, Pages needing enhanced psychological perspective. The problem of evil is the reconciliation between the existence of suffering and evil in the world with an omnipotent (all powerful), omniscient (allknowing) and … ... Epicurus, bronze bust from a Greek original, he would want to eliminate all.! Do anything he wants ; so, he can admit that no rational proof of God against the of. A Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content theistic beliefs with wide. Authors disagree on the exact problem of evil: Corrections atheists view the problem of can! 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