Term paper

MACKIE’S EVIL AND OMNIPOTENCE 2

Mackie’s evil and omnipotence

Darielle Brooks

Allen University

Western Thought

Professor Anderson

March 29, 2021

Introduction

· According to Mackie, philosophers show that the existence of God is faulty.

· However, he cannot force people to believe that there is no God. People are free to believe the criticism or even admit that there is no rational proof of God's existence. Comment by Author: This is true, but it’s a bit boring (since it’s always true). The question at issue is whether the reasons he tries to give are convincing or not. You are going to make a case that they should not convince.

Problem of Evil

· The biggest problem and controversy in the issue of good and bad is that God is omnipotent, good, but still, evil exists.

· The three factors are very contradicting.

· According to Mickie, if something is wholly good, it can eliminate as much evil as it can (Mackie, 2014)

· Also, considering that God is omnipotent, he can do anything.

Solution

· There are several fallacious solutions that Mackie does not consider effective for theologians in solving evil.

· Mackie provides justifications for why these solutions fail. Solution for this problem is the Good cannot exist without evil, since evil is necessary as a counterpart to good

Markie's Reason for Objections

· The main argument is that God could not have created all good things without bad things.

· Goodness cannot exist without evil. The solution is a limitation on omnipotence.

· However, theologians continue arguing that God's omnipotence does not exist to do things logically as people think is fit. The argument asserts that greatness requires smallness for it to exist (Mackie, 2014).

· Also, for quality to be considered quality, lack of quality should exist as well.

· Mackie objects to the argument because he believes that there is no reason for not believing that everything exists with specific properties.

· If the principle of good existing because of evil, it might be referring to less evil than observed in real life (Mackie, 2014).

Conclusion

· The existence of God, who is fully good and evil is confusing.

· Mackie objects to the idea that "Good cannot exist without evil".

· He asserts that there is more evil in the world than what is observed.

Reference

Mackie, J. L. (2014). Evil and omnipotence. Philosophy of Religion: An Anthology, 64, 256.

This is a good start, but you end without really adding anything to what Mackie already stated. If you agree with Mackie, you’ll want to overcome an objection to one of his arguments. Your thesis would be that that objection doesn’t work.

If you disagree, you need to explain where he goes wrong. An outline for that paper might look like this:

Introduce the topic and state the thesis

Explain the problem of evil

Explain the solution you think will work

Explain in detail why Mackie rejects that solution

Give your arguments against Mackie’s.

Conclude