In his article “Evil and Omnipotence,” J.L. Mackie explores the various adequate and fallacious solutions to the “problem of evil,” a problem in which “God is omnipotent; God is wholly good; and yet evil exists” (p. 119). While Mackie discusses, analyzes, and criticizes many solutions, including “good cannot exist without evil” (p. 120) and “evil is necessary as a means to good” (p. 122), my paper will solely focus on Mackie’s response to the fallacious solution that “evil is due to human free will” (p. 123), which begins “first I must query” on p. 124. This paper will formally extract, justify, critically evaluate, and engage with Mackie’s argument that existence of evil due to free will is erroneous. Mackie describes the free will
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He establishes that God’s limitless power should allow him to create beings who freely choose to do the good thing on every occasion, rather than beings who “sometimes prefer what is good and sometimes what is evil” (p. 124). Mackie proceeds to raises an important question: “can an omnipotent being make things which he cannot subsequently control?” (p. 125). In the second premise, Mackie addresses God’s omnibenevolence. According to Mackie, if God was all loving or infinitely good, he would have wanted his creations to have the same nature and ultimately have done so, rather than creating humans whose freedom of choice sometimes leads to the creation of evil. In his third premise, Mackie asserts that God failed to go with “the obviously better possibility of making beings who would act freely but always go right” (p. 124). Because God either was not able to or simply chose not to creates beings who always choose to do the good thing while they act freely, Mackie concludes that God cannot be both omnipotent and omnibenevolent. Mackie’s argument is logically valid, but since I believe there to be several discrepancies with his logic and reasoning, I do not believe his conclusion to be sound. For example, people have varying definitions of what constitutes “good” and “evil” and people might be acting in a situation with the intention of doing the good thing, only to have that action result in evil. The critique I will …show more content…
For the definition of free will to reign true, human beings must make actions at their own discretion even if it is the wrong choice, which I have previously mentioned is an arbitrary measure. Once humans are created to always choose the good thing, the element of freedom is
He establishes that God’s limitless power should allow him to create beings who freely choose to do the good thing on every occasion, rather than beings who “sometimes prefer what is good and sometimes what is evil” (p. 124). Mackie proceeds to raises an important question: “can an omnipotent being make things which he cannot subsequently control?” (p. 125). In the second premise, Mackie addresses God’s omnibenevolence. According to Mackie, if God was all loving or infinitely good, he would have wanted his creations to have the same nature and ultimately have done so, rather than creating humans whose freedom of choice sometimes leads to the creation of evil. In his third premise, Mackie asserts that God failed to go with “the obviously better possibility of making beings who would act freely but always go right” (p. 124). Because God either was not able to or simply chose not to creates beings who always choose to do the good thing while they act freely, Mackie concludes that God cannot be both omnipotent and omnibenevolent. Mackie’s argument is logically valid, but since I believe there to be several discrepancies with his logic and reasoning, I do not believe his conclusion to be sound. For example, people have varying definitions of what constitutes “good” and “evil” and people might be acting in a situation with the intention of doing the good thing, only to have that action result in evil. The critique I will …show more content…
For the definition of free will to reign true, human beings must make actions at their own discretion even if it is the wrong choice, which I have previously mentioned is an arbitrary measure. Once humans are created to always choose the good thing, the element of freedom is