PHI 210 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Omnipotence
Document Summary
There is a god who: coexists with evil, is omnipotent, is wholly good. Mackie claims that these statements are likewise inconsistent. The contradiction does not arise immediately; to show it we need some additional premises Therefore, a wholly good, omnipotent being would eliminate all evil. The problem of evil: god is omnipotent, god is wholly good, evil exists, a wholly good, omnipotent being would eliminate all evil. Fallacious solutions explicitly maintain all the constituent propositions, but implicitly reject at least one of them in the course of the argument that explains away the problem of evil. (mackie: 104) The three fallacious solutions that mackie considers revise his additional premises: far as it can. The fallacious solutions: a wholly good thing wants to produce the best possible world it can, an omnipotent thing can do anything that is logically possible. Therefore, a wholly good, omnipotent being would produce the best logically possible world.
