philosophy homework questions
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HumeonProblemofEvil.pptxEvil Makes a Strong Case against God’s Existence
David Hume
Philo and Demea Discuss Suffering
Demea 1: Emotional Appeal of Religion
Religion has an emotional (as opposed to rational) appeal. People are drawn to religion due to their consciousness of their own limitations and miseries (rather than their reasons). Religions provide methods of atonement to help them cope with their limitations and miseries.
Philo 1: Emotional Appeal of Religion
Religion has a purely emotional appeal. The ability to present religion with eloquence and strong imagery, rather than reasoning and argument, is the key for attracting people to religion. If religion is a matter of emotion or feeling, then it is not necessary to prove it. It simply needs to make us feel a certain emotion.
Demea 2: Reality of Evil
Great & Melancholy Truth / Universal Feeling:
Miseries of Life
Human Unhappiness
General Corruptions of our Nature
Unsatisfactory Enjoyment of Pleasures, Riches, and Honors
Philo 2: Reality of Evil
All (i.e., the learned, the vulgar, the sacred, the profane, the poets, etc.) agree about the reality of human miseries.
Demea 3: Authors and the Problem of Evil
All authors, except the ones who wrote on the sciences, addressed the problem of human miseries. No one denies the problem of human miseries.
Philo 3: Leibniz and the Problem of Evil
Leibniz denied the problem of human miseries.
Demea 4: Against Leibniz
Being the first to make such kind of a denial, Leibniz “might not have been sensible of his error.” But his denial cannot trump the united testimony of humankind. Humans are not exempt from life’s miseries. The whole earth is polluted. There are perpetual war, hunger, fear, anxiety, etc. Anguish, agony, horror and distress are with humans from birth and death, i.e. in every stage of our lives.
Philo 4: Evil in the Animal Kingdom
Other cases of suffering:
Natural Catastrophes
Stronger prey upon the weaker one in perpetual terror and anxiety
Weaker prey upon the stronger in perpetual terror and anxiety (e.g., innumerable race of insects)
“…every animal is surrounded with enemies which incessantly seek his misery and destruction.”
Whether Humankind is an Exception
(i.e. from being surrounded with enemies which incessantly seek his misery and destruction)
Demea 5: Yes
Yes, humankind is an exception, since humans can easily master animals with greater strength and agility, such as lions, tigers, and bears.
Philo 5: No
No, humankind is NOT an exception, since humans are prone to create their imaginary enemies (e.g. the demons of their fancies “who haunt them with superstitious terrors and blast every enjoyment of life”). Human pleasures become crimes in the eyes of such demons. In addition to forbidden pleasures, there are forbidden food. There are dreams that bring about “new materials for anxious fear. Even death, which is supposed to be one’s refuge from every other ill, becomes something to be feared.
In addition, humanity is the greatest enemy of humanity. See the cases of oppression, injustice, contempt, humiliating treatment, violence, rebellion, war, slander, betrayal of trust, and fraud. They mutually torment each other.
Demea 6: Incomparable Evil in the Human World
All of those are nothing in comparison to the ones that arise within ourselves, “from the distempered condition of our mind and body” (e.g. the lingering torment of diseases, disorders of the mind – such as remorse, shame, anguish, rage, disappointment, anxiety, fear, dejection, despair, etc.).
In addition, the far greater number of humans have to deal with labor and poverty. The rich never reach contentment or true felicity. All the goods of life would not make a human happy, but all the ills would make a human feel wretched. Look at hospitals full of diseases, prisons full of prisoners, battlefields full of carcasses, a fleet sinking in the ocean, nations under tyrannical rule, famine, or pestilence. They cannot be compared to the happy side of life: a ball, an opera, court, etc.
Philo 6: The Human Predicament
If people are really unhappy about their lives, why do they remain in life? There’s a dilemma: not satisfied with life and afraid of death. Humans are terrified at the continuance of their existence.
Is Happiness More Common Than Suffering?
Cleanthes 1: Evil is Uncommon
“I can observe something like what you mention in some others, but I confess I feel little or nothing of it in myself, and hope that it is not so common as you represent it.”
Demea 7: Complaints about Evil
Other humans (at least other than Cleanthes), even the seemingly most prosperous, shamelessly vent their complaints about life’s miseries in the most melancholy strains.
Charles V: “…when, tired of human grandeur, he resigned all his extensive dominions into the hands of his son.” He claimed to be unsatisfied and discontented. Even retirement did not give him any greater happiness.
Cicero: Pathetically complained of the ills of life.
The Greatness of Human Misery: It reconciles contradictions: complaining of the shortness of life and, at the same time, complaining of its vanity and sorrow.
What About God?
Philo 7: Divine Attributes and the Lack of Happiness and Purpose
Can Cleanthes continue in his anthropomorphism (like asserting the moral attributes of the Deity, e.g. justice, benevolence, mercy, and rectitude) after all these reflections? Let’s grant that the Deity has infinite power (i.e. whatever he wills is executed). But humans and animals are unhappy. Thus, the Deity does not will their happiness. Let’s grant that the Deity has infinite wisdom, i.e. he is never mistaken in choosing the means to any end. But the course of nature does not lead to human or animal happiness. Thus, the course of nature is not established for that purpose. In addition, there are the unanswered questions of Epicurus on the problem of evil. Humans even have barely enough for the survival of our species. Although we have capacity for aesthetic pleasures or satisfactions, such capacity is not absolutely necessary for preservation and propagation of the species. There are pains (physical and mental) from certain illnesses. Things that give momentary pleasures (e.g. laughter, playful behavior, etc.) bring senseless satisfactions. There seems to be no purpose to them. In what way divine benevolence resembles human benevolence?
Cleanthes 2: The Threat to Religion
If Philo is correct and he can prove his claims, then there is an end to religion. There is no reason for talking about the natural attributes of the Deity, if its moral attributes are still doubtful and uncertain.
Demea 8: Preachers’ Theodicies
Preachers “who have indulged their rhetoric on so fertile a subject” have easily given a solution of any difficulties:
the world is but a point in comparison of the universe
this life is but a moment in comparison of eternity
Therefore, “The present evil phenomena…are rectified in other regions, and in some future period of existence. And the eyes of men, being then opened to larger views of things, see the whole connection of general laws, and trace, with adoration, the benevolence and rectitude of the Deity through all the mazes and intricacies of his providence.”
Cleanthes 3: Denial of Misery and Wickedness
These arbitrary suppositions of preachers are unacceptable, contrary to matter of fact, visible, and uncontroverted. The only way to support Divine benevolence is “to deny absolutely the misery and wickedness of [humanity].” The representations of the misery and wickedness are exaggerated, fictitious, and contrary to fact and experience. “Health is more common than sickness, pleasure than pain, happiness than misery.”
Philo 8: Pain over Pleasure
Pain, although less frequent than pleasure, is infinitely more violent and durable (e.g. 1 hour of pain can outweigh 1 day of common insipid or uninteresting enjoyments). Pleasure rarely reaches its maximum. Even if it reaches its maximum, it never stays there for a long time. On the other hand, pain often rises to torture and agony; “and the longer it continues, it becomes still more genuine agony and torture.”
Philo 9: Religion and Uncertainty
Cleanthes is “introducing a total skepticism into the most essential articles of natural and revealed theology”, i.e. “no method of fixing a just foundation for religion unless we allow the happiness of human life, and maintain a continued existence even in this world, with all our present pains, infirmities, vexations, and follies, to be eligible and desirable.” This is contrary to everyone’s feeling and experience and to an established authority. There is no way of confirming the truths about the levels of pains and pleasures in the lives of all humans and animals. One should not rest the whole system of religion on something that must be forever uncertain.
Philo 10: Evil and Skepticism
Why is there any misery at all in the world? By chance or from the intention of the Deity? If the Deity is infinitely good, the misery should be contrary to the Deity’s intention.
One can simply assert that these subjects exceeds human cognitive abilities. Our standards of truth and falsity do not apply to such subjects.
Philo 11: Compatibility between God and Evil?
Suppose God as traditionally described and evil are compatible. But what does such compatibility establish? “A mere possible compatibility is not sufficient.”
