Tuesday, June 11, 2013

explaining evil = denying evil.


If everything happens for a reason, then there is no evil. Alas, there is evil. Ergo, not everything happens for a reason. 
Comment:  I think that this argument is sound.  What’s doing all the work is the conditional, “If everything happens for a reason, then there is no evil.”  A lot is packed into “…for a reason”.  Here’s some phrases I could have used in its stead:  “is such that it had to happen”, “is such that it is best”, “is such that God unequivocally delights in it”, and the like.  Because I’m committed to the conditional, I think that much of what goes for explaining why there’s evil in the world comes dangerously close to denying that there is evil in the world.
“If then one wishes to know the cause of each thing, why it comes to be or perishes or exists, one had to find what was the best way for it to be…”
  Plato, Phaedo 97c-d

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