The Problem of Evil

The problem of evil accumulates at the centre of the philosophy of religion as one of the most sensitive and controversial debates. For both atheists and theists, the topic regarding pain and suffering in the world is extremely important. Believers must respond to these criticisms of God’s existence, for evil can be viewed as solid proof to deny the possibility of their creator altogether. However, evil can fall under the mistaken assumption that this is immediate proof against God. A majority of theists do have a good answer to the problem, and their belief in God remains as strong as ever.

Evil is a result of our experience of the world instead of intellectual deduction. What is classified as evil as opposed to good can be subjective; what I may think is an act of malice may not be the case for somebody else. Therefore, there is no universal spectrum or scale with good at one end and bad at the other. Naturally, humans establish laws to maintain order and peace within a civilization, and these laws dictate what we should and shouldn’t do. However, not everybody agrees on these laws and they are often changed according to the times. There is no black and white way of distinguishing good from evil, but we can perceive evil in the social world corresponding to the emotion of pain, in contrast to the natural world which we cannot assign with direct emotion.

The above diagram illustrates the clouded line between good and evil corresponding to the laws of today's society.

What Is ‘Evil’?

In order to the discuss the problem of evil in the proper context, we must first look at the definition of evil. According to the online dictionary, evil means, “Profoundly immoral and wicked”. Therefore, evil is relative to negative experiences perceived in our world. These experiences can be divided into two categories:

• Physical (pain): Hunger, fatigue, pain, cold

• Mental (suffering): Terror, anguish, sorrow, grief, misery

Both of these types of evil occur on a daily basis across the entire world. St Augustine (354 AD - 430 AD), an early theologian, suggested a more technical definition of evil. He defined evil as that “which we fear, or the act of fearing itself”. This means that fear itself is considered an evil. The presence of terror emitted by murderers and illness can be seen as an invisible manifestation which causes humans to respond with fear. However, this mustn’t be confused in St Augustine’s view of evil being it’s own substance, rather it is simply the absence of goodness.

“(Evil is) nothing but the corruption of natural measure, form and order. What is called an evil nature is a corrupt nature… It is bad only so far as it has been corrupted” - St Augustine

This idea of ‘goodness’ derives from that of Aristotle and Plato. Aristotle’s way of defining the good gives us an interesting way of approaching the discussion. He believed that ‘good’ refers to a fulfilment of something’s natural goal or potential. For example, a good tool is one that is excellent at it’s purpose, for example a ruler and measuring a distance. The ruler has all the relevant features to ensure the correct measurement and a straight edge to draw straight lines. An example in nature is an apple tree. A good apple tree would be one with strong roots, healthy branches, disease-free and produces flavoursome fruit.

Therefore, evil does not have it’s own presence, but is a ‘privation of good’, stopping natural flourishment and purpose. Augustine believed that God created the world with goodness, and that evil was later introduced after this goodness somehow fell into disorder.

Natural and Moral Evil

Evil, as previously mentioned, is either the result of human or natural cause: hence, they can be categorised as natural and moral. Natural evil is the term used to describe feelings of pain and suffering that occur independently of human actions. This contains natural disasters, such as earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis. Natural disasters are one of the biggest problems surrounding God’s existence. However, this all depends on one’s own belief of what God is. For Christians, natural evil is a vital issue, for their God is highly depicted as a benevolent and powerful being, who could surely stop these catastrophes with the palm of his hand. Our world is supposed to be the ‘best’ world to live in, so why does nature become our enemy? Why does God want to inflict pain on his creation? It’s very easy to disbelieve in God’s existence due to these questions, but one must remember not all variations of God are all-loving, nor do they directly cause natural evil. Other examples include cancer, plague, the extinction of the dinosaurs and many, many more.

Moral evil is different to natural evil. Acts of cruelty initiated by human beings to cause pain and other negative emotions to other humans fall under this category. For theologians, and some religions, these are known as ‘sins’. A prime example of moral evil is war; the huge disagreement arising from contrasting societies resulting in an absolutely devastating loss of life, including the deaths of many innocent children. War brings physical and mental pain, from cold and hunger to misery and grief. However, this massive scale of evil can be equally met with the baffling amount of unmotivated murder, torture and abuse which occurs throughout our world every single day.

• Natural evil - caused by nature, for example natural disasters

• Moral evil - caused by humans, for example murder

Moral evil and natural evil are not entirely separate. Natural evil can be a consequence of moral evil, caused by human action or inaction, for example - crop failure, starvation and drought can be the result of over-population, over-farming and destroying the natural environment. Humans choose to live next to deadly volcanoes, and so on. These natural evils could be reflected as moral evils also, but there would be some examples which wouldn’t quite fit. For example, HIV has killed millions of people, and can be viewed by some religions as a result of human sin. However, one may argue that those who have died from the virus didn’t knowingly contract the illness and should neither be punished nor blamed. St Augustine, on the other hand, stated that the ‘original sin’ of Adam caused the Garden of Eden to become imperfect, and that the suffering caused by natural disasters and disease is God’s punishment for the original moral evil.

Moral evil could also be described as a form of natural evil. Humans are natural living organisms, after all. This all depends on opinion, however, and stems into the realm of the philosophy of human nature. Western religious traditions stated that humans do not hold rights or any form of position within the natural world; rather, they are outside of, or beyond, nature. If humans are part of the natural world, then moral evil cannot be separated from natural evil, making murder no different to the eruption of a volcano. If our species became governed by the same rules of life as all other animals, then death, pain and murder is just an inevitable result of living. John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) stated that natural evil came from the malfunctioning of the Universe. The world was intended for the protection and preservation of life, not the destruction. Therefore, humans have only caused more harm than good. If they have no privileged place or special hierarchy above that of the animal kingdom, then human actions can easily be seen as a natural evil, but under their own subform of moral evil. Just like animals, humans compete for food, resources and mates, living exclusively in social groups. They fight instinctively, just as bears, lions and other animals do. If we exclude sin, crime and laws, evil caused by humankind can be viewed as an extremity of the natural pain we seen inflicted across the entire animal kingdom.

Although, I do think that the intelligence of the human race should be noted here. Humans are definable by this one specific feature, and through this they have invented countless breakthroughs in technology, science and so much more. Due to this intellect, humans are able to perceive pain differently to other animals, even those who are also highly intelligent such as whales and monkeys. Human intelligence is absolutely groundbreaking, of course other animals are capable of construction, such as birds buildings nests, but an aerial view of a man-made city is astounding. Humans show capabilities which are far more advanced than other living things. Therefore, although they may also be flesh and bone, humans have a unique ‘soul’ and judgment, which enables them to see the difference between good and evil a lot more clearly. A lion may kill another big cat for trying to steal it’s kill, but we wouldn’t necessarily be able to justify killing a stranger for stealing a chip! And if we did, there’s a high chance we’d feel guilty about it, whereas a lion would feel fully justified. Thus, although humans are natural, they are aware of the evil they generate and do attempt to amend this, acting only upon good emotions. For example, laws have been put in place to deter people from murder, conservation projects are underway to stop deforestation, species have been protected to stop them becoming extinct, and so forth. Humans are unlike animals in this sense, for their ‘soul’ which is highly perceptive of emotion can see a clearer balance of good and evil. I personally believe the complexity of the human mind will forever alienate us from the rest of the animal kingdom.

In the next post, we shall explore the problem of evil a little deeper, and look at ways in which this problem can be resolved.