After our meditation on animal suffering, we will return our attention to a more popular association with the evidential problem of evil known as moral evil. While many theists are happy to accept the good of free will as an explanation for moral evil, or perhaps even a necessary stumbling block for growing moral creatures, we must also question how much moral evil is permissible in the best possible world.
Jonas asks us to consider if there is a “limit” to how much evil we can accept in a theoretically ordered world. Adams situates concerns like Jonas’ into a category called “horrendous evils,” and offers possible responses. I have also attached Hick as an optional reading as it attests to the "Soul-making Theodicy"I mentioned in class yesterday...
Required:
Jonas, Hans. “The Concept of God After Auschwitz: A Jewish Voice” from The Journal of Religion, Vol. 67, No. 1 (Jan., 1987), 1-13.
Adams, Marilyn McCord. “Horrendous Evils and the Goodness of God,” from Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Vol. 63 (1989), 297-310.
Optional:
Hick, John. “Soul-Making Theodicy” from Philosophy of Religion: Selected Readings, edited by Peterson, Haskal, Reichenbach, Basinger (2014).
Happy reading!
-S