The Problem of Evil - Common Sense Atheism

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Preface These lectures were delivered in the University of St Andrews in April and May of 2003. It is difficult for me to find words to express my gratitude to the members of University of St Andrews for giving me the opportunity to deliver a series of Gifford Lectures in their university. Having attempted and discarded several more elaborate expressions of gratitude, I will say only that I am very grateful indeed for the honor they have done me. I am also grateful to many individual members of the university for all they did to make my stay in St Andrews a pleasant and productive one, and for their many acts of kindness to me and to my wife Lisette and my step-daughter Claire. Special thanks are due to Professor Alan Torrance, Dr Peter Clark (Head of the School of Philosophical and Anthropological Studies), Professor Sarah Broadie, and Professor John Haldane. I wish also to thank the audiences at the lectures for their insightful comments and questions, many of which I have responded to (however inadequately) in this book. These responses are to be found in the endnotes; in a few cases, they have taken the form of revisions of the text of the lectures. Finally, I thank the two readers to whom the Oxford University Press sent a draft of the manuscript of this book. I have tried to meet some of their concerns about particular passages (and I have responded to some of their more general comments and suggestions) in the notes and in the text. I have not, in turning the text of the lectures into a book, tried to make it anything other than what it was: a text written to be read aloud to an audience. (With this qualification: in the process of revision, some of the ‘‘lectures’’ have become too long actually to be read in the hour that academic tradition allots to a lecture.) Many passages in the text of the lectures have been extensively rewritten, but all the revisions are ones I would have made before the lectures were delivered—if only I had been thinking more clearly at the time. Most of the material in this book that was not in the original lectures is in the endnotes. The lectures were written for a general audience (as opposed to an audience of philosophers). A few of the notes are simply thoughts that could not be fitted into the text without ‘‘breaking the flow’’. Most of the others (citations of books and articles aside) are for philosophers. I advise readers of the book who are not philosophers to
viii Preface ignore the notes (unless, perhaps, they see a footnote cue attached to a passage in which something I’ve said seems to them to face an obvious objection; they may find their concern addressed in the note). I will not summarize the content of the lectures here. The Detailed Contents contains a summary of each of the lectures, and the first lecture gives a general overview of their content. Citations are given in ‘‘minimal’’ form in the notes (e.g. Adams and Adams, The Problem of Evil). For ‘‘full’’ citations, see Works Cited. Quotations from the Psalms are taken from the Book of Common Prayer. Other biblical quotations are from the Authorized (King James) Version unless otherwise specified. South Bend, Indiana August 2005 Peter van Inwagen
Page 4: THE PROBLEM OF EVIL
Page 7 and 8: 1 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX
Page 12: Outline Contents Detailed Contents
Page 15 and 16: xii Detailed Contents agnostics’
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Page 19 and 20: 2 The Problem and Argument from Evi
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Page 35 and 36: Lecture 2 The Idea of God I said th
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Page 43 and 44: 26 The Idea of God evil. When we fi
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42 Philosophical Failure which prem
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44 Philosophical Failure thesis. Al
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46 Philosophical Failure realist in
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48 Philosophical Failure of our con
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50 Philosophical Failure mere agnos
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52 Philosophical Failure representa
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54 Philosophical Failure minds, say
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Lecture 4 The Global Argument from
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98 The Local Argument from Evil (3)
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114 The Sufferings of Beasts the ac
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116 The Sufferings of Beasts balls
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118 The Sufferings of Beasts state
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120 The Sufferings of Beasts Let us
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122 The Sufferings of Beasts gift f
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124 The Sufferings of Beasts What I
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126 The Sufferings of Beasts on the
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128 The Sufferings of Beasts a worl
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130 The Sufferings of Beasts told t
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132 The Sufferings of Beasts to ens
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134 The Sufferings of Beasts warned
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136 The Hiddenness of God hiddennes
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138 The Hiddenness of God admiratio
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140 The Hiddenness of God Theist. S
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142 The Hiddenness of God about the
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144 The Hiddenness of God If this w
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146 The Hiddenness of God (2) Patri
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148 The Hiddenness of God in genera
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150 The Hiddenness of God intellect
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Notes LECTURE 1 THE PROBLEM OF EVIL
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154 Notes 14. But here is a defense
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156 Notes to the metaphysical probl
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158 Notes greatest possible being m
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160 Notes matters was said only to
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162 Notes I believe as strongly as
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164 Notes 10. Note that I do not sa
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166 Notes Christianity.) Let us say
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168 Notes LECTURE 6 THE LOCAL ARGUM
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170 Notes of them: all of them but
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172 Notes 20. One might, however, w
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174 Notes 3. Those who think that t
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176 Notes that the first conjunct i
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178 Works Cited Providence and Evil
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180 Works Cited ‘‘What is the P
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182 Index free will (free choice) 2
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REVELATION
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