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U of A PHIL 200 - Complexity and Disorder cont. and Evil and Omnipotence
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PHIL 2003C 1st Edition Lecture 6Outline of Last Lecture I. Hume’s Dialogue Criticism and ResponseOutline of Current Lecture II. Complexity and DisorderIII. Evil and OmnipotenceCurrent LectureII: Complexity and DisorderSome causes of complexity/orderReductio Philo tries: 5.) you give up any claim to god’s attributes being infinitea. if it has to be that like effects imply like causes, and we know the effect is not infinite, then we’re stuck saying the cause isn’t either- or anyway, removing god so far from human intelligence-by allowing that he possesses qualities that are infinite in their powers-simply weakens the argument6.) you also have to give up the perfection of the designera. for the same reason as 4. Tighten the analogy and that means the creator of the universe must be pretty human-like—which means he ain’t perfect. Weaken the analogyto make the creator perfect and you’ve weakened the strength of the analogy, and thus the argument itself.7.) And there’s supposed to be ONLY ONE god??a. Again, like effects imply like causes. There’s some wiggle room there, but is there enoughto support the argument when the cause of almost every machine is multiple people while the universe constitutes one big exception?III: Evil and Omnipotence-so Mackie begins by saying that theists(believe in god) can, if they like, simply accept that all of the known arguments for god’s existence are found lacking, yet believe in god in a non-rational way.-he wants to show that belief in (a certain type of) god is irrational, that one cannot consistently believe in (this type of) GodThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.it’s a logical problem:-it’s not something that can be “solved” by further research, or that requires a technical, complex solution. If it helps, think of this as an ‘in principle- problem-it’s a problem of consistency. Belief in ( a kind of) god is supposed to be inconsistent.What does thins mean? Consider the statements:-if you finish first, then you win the gold-you finish first-you don’t win the gold[the problem: you can only believe two out of the three]What are the beliefs that are not consistent that Mackie wants to talk about?- God is wholly good- God is omnipotent(all powerful)- Evil exists[Mackie says the cannot all be true]But though it seems boring to say so. It does matter here what we mean by “good” and “omnipotent.” Good= opposed to evil in such a way that it stops evil if it canOmnipotent= there are no limits to what such a being can do[you can define good as anything different.. mackie doesn’t claim that’s the only definition.. but Mackie thinks you have to reject one of the three things or the definitions]What about evil? Mackie doesn’t define it… you may consider evil to be:-some harm being done to the physical or psychological well-being of a sentient creature-the unjust treatment of some sentient creature- loss of opportunity resulting from premature death-anything that prevents an individual from leading a fulfilling and virtuous life-a person doing that which is morally


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U of A PHIL 200 - Complexity and Disorder cont. and Evil and Omnipotence

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