Post by hume on Feb 18, 2007 19:33:09 GMT -8
4/22/06:
It's commonly said that the "problem of evil" only really arises for believers, since non-theists, while certainly viewing evil as problematic in the sense that it's a bad thing, don't take it as posing any "problem" for the logical consistency of their world view. If our universe was not created by a good God, then it's no surprise to find lots of bad things happening in it.
If Evil is a "Problem" only for believers, in a similar way, Free Will is a Problem only for non-believers. Arguably this problem is even bigger, even more intractable ... in a strictly material universe, in which all actions are the outcome of a chain of physical events, there is no place for genuinely free choice (the "self-caused cause"). Vague attempts to insert quantum mechanics into this scenario only seem to allow for random events, not choices (and choices, by definition, are not random). I think most materialists are inconsistent about this -- really, most do believe that their choices are real choices; they do not face the fact that their world view denies them this capacity. The sense that we really do have options, and really do face decisions, is as strong and intuitive as our basic moral sense.
In fact the two are connected; if we are not free actors, then of course we can't be held responsible for doing evil. This is extremely difficult to accept. It is perhaps the most disturbing implication of a materialist world view, and it seems to bring the Problem of Evil back around and place it at the athiest's doorstep after all, this time framed as the Problem of No Evil.
It's commonly said that the "problem of evil" only really arises for believers, since non-theists, while certainly viewing evil as problematic in the sense that it's a bad thing, don't take it as posing any "problem" for the logical consistency of their world view. If our universe was not created by a good God, then it's no surprise to find lots of bad things happening in it.
If Evil is a "Problem" only for believers, in a similar way, Free Will is a Problem only for non-believers. Arguably this problem is even bigger, even more intractable ... in a strictly material universe, in which all actions are the outcome of a chain of physical events, there is no place for genuinely free choice (the "self-caused cause"). Vague attempts to insert quantum mechanics into this scenario only seem to allow for random events, not choices (and choices, by definition, are not random). I think most materialists are inconsistent about this -- really, most do believe that their choices are real choices; they do not face the fact that their world view denies them this capacity. The sense that we really do have options, and really do face decisions, is as strong and intuitive as our basic moral sense.
In fact the two are connected; if we are not free actors, then of course we can't be held responsible for doing evil. This is extremely difficult to accept. It is perhaps the most disturbing implication of a materialist world view, and it seems to bring the Problem of Evil back around and place it at the athiest's doorstep after all, this time framed as the Problem of No Evil.
