The Problem of Evil
by Peter van Inwagen
The vast amount of suffering in the world is often held as a particularly powerful reason to deny that God exists. Highly accessible and carefully argued, Peter van Inwagen's book maintains that such reasoning does not hold, and that suffering should not undermine belief in God.
Paperback
English
Brand New
Publisher Description
It is generally supposed that the fact that the world contains a vast amount of suffering, much of it truly horrible suffering, confronts those who believe in an all-powerful and benevolent Creator with a serious problem: to explain why such a Creator would permit this. Many reflective people are convinced that the problem, the problem of evil, is insoluble. The reasons that underlie this conviction can be formulated as a powerful argument for the non-existence ofGod, the so-called argument from evil: If there were a God, he would not permit the existence of vast amounts of truly horrible suffering; since such suffering exists, there is no God. Peter vanInwagen examines this argument, which he regards as a paradigmatically philosophical argument. His conclusion is that (like most philosophical arguments) it is a failure. He seeks to demonstrate, not that God exists, but the fact that the world contains a vast amount of suffering does not show that God does not exist.Along the way he discusses a wide range of topics of interest to philosophers and theologians, such as: the concept of God; what might be meant bydescribing a philosophical argument as a failure; the distinction between versions of the argument from evil that depend on the vast amount of evil in the world and versions of the argument that depend on aparticular evil, such as the Lisbon earthquake or the death of a fawn in a forest fire; the free-will defense; animal suffering; and the problem of the hiddenness of God.
Table of Contents
Introduction1: The Problem of Evil and the Argument from Evil2: The Idea of God3: Philosophical Failure4: The Global Argument from Evil5: The Global Argument Continued6: The Local Argument from Evil7: The Sufferings of Beasts8: The Hiddenness of God
Review
`Review from previous edition 'Van Inwagen must be the clearest writer and the best stylist in analytic philosophy, at least since the passing of W. V. Quine.''Ars Disputandi Journal, Daniel J. Hill`'[a] fine book''Trenton Merricks, The Times Literary Supplement
Promotional
One of the world's most respected philosophers of religion presents his own definitive position on one of the most vexed debates in philosophy and theology
Long Description
It is generally supposed that the fact that the world contains a vast amount of suffering, much of it truly horrible suffering, confronts those who believe in an all-powerful and benevolent Creator with a serious problem: to explain why such a Creator would permit this. Many reflective people are convinced that the problem, the problem of evil, is insoluble. The reasons that underlie this conviction can be formulated as a powerful argument for the non-existence of
God, the so-called argument from evil: If there were a God, he would not permit the existence of vast amounts of truly horrible suffering; since such suffering exists, there is no God. Peter van Inwagen examines this argument, which he regards as a paradigmatically philosophical argument. His
conclusion is that (like most philosophical arguments) it is a failure. He seeks to demonstrate, not that God exists, but the fact that the world contains a vast amount of suffering does not show that God does not exist.Along the way he discusses a wide range of topics of interest to philosophers and theologians, such as: the concept of God; what might be meant by describing a philosophical argument as a failure; the distinction between versions of the argument from evil
that depend on the vast amount of evil in the world and versions of the argument that depend on a particular evil, such as the Lisbon earthquake or the death of a fawn in a forest fire; the free-will defense; animal suffering; and the problem of the hiddenness of God.
Review Text
`Review from previous edition 'Van Inwagen must be the clearest writer and the best stylist in analytic philosophy, at least since the passing of W. V. Quine.'
'
Ars Disputandi Journal, Daniel J. Hill
`'[a] fine book''
Trenton Merricks, The Times Literary Supplement
Review Quote
'Review from previous edition 'Van Inwagen must be the clearest writer and the best stylist in analytic philosophy, at least since the passing of W. V. Quine.' ' Ars Disputandi Journal, Daniel J. Hill
Feature
Van Inwagen is one of the world's most respected philosophers of religion
Presents his own definitive position on one of the most vexed debates in philosophy and theology
Powerfully argued, and highly accessible
Details
