The Problem of Evil and the Grammar of Goodness

Journal Title: Religions - Year 2018, Vol 9, Issue 2

Abstract

I consider the two venerated arguments about the existence of God: the Ontological Argument and the Argument from Evil. The Ontological Argument purports to show that God’s nature guarantees that God exists. The Argument from Evil purports to show that God’s nature, combined with some plausible facts about the way the world is, guarantees (or is very compelling grounds for thinking) that God does not exist. Both presume that it is coherent to predicate goodness (or greatness) of God. But if Peter Geach’s claim that goodness is logically attributive is cogent, then both arguments fall to the ground.

Authors and Affiliations

Eric Wiland

Keywords

Related Articles

Erich Auerbach and His "Figura": An Apology for the Old Testament in an Age of Aryan Philology

Auerbach‘s goal in writing ―Figura‖ and Mimesis was the rejection of Aryan philology and Nazi barbarism, based on racism, chauvinism and the mythologies of Blood, Volk and Soil, which eliminated the Old Testament from...

Religiosity and the Wish of Older Adults for Physician-Assisted Suicide

In industrialized countries, population ageing is associated with intense discussions on the issue of dying with dignity. Some countries have legalized assisted suicide and authorized physicians to provide the knowledg...

The Apparatus of Belief: Prayer, Technology, and Ritual Gesture

Through a focus on the early history of a mass mediated ritual practice, this essay describes the “apparatus of belief,” or the specific ways in which individual religious belief has become intimately related to tele-t...

A Contribution to Comparative Theology: Probing the Depth of Islamic Thought

Muslim theologians, as much as ordinary Muslims, will immediately agree with the characterization of God as all compassionate. However, it remains rather opaque how God’s compassion can be fully explained in terms of c...

Central European Jewish Émigrés and the Shaping of Postwar Culture: Studies in Memory of Lilian Furst (1931–2009)

This volume grew out of a conference on “Jewish Émigrés and the Shaping of Postwar Culture,” organized by the Triangle Intellectual History Seminar and the Duke-UNC Jewish Studies Seminar to commemorate the late Lilian...

Download PDF file
  • EP ID EP25911
  • DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/rel9020043
  • Views 337
  • Downloads 8

How To Cite

Eric Wiland (2018). The Problem of Evil and the Grammar of Goodness. Religions, 9(2), -. https://europub.co.uk./articles/-A-25911