Summary Of Evil And Omnipotence By J. L. Mackie

A CRITICAL ASSESSEMENT IN SUPPORT OF J. L. MACKIE’S ESSAY

‘EVIL AND OMNIPOTENCE’

By A. Chokroborty-Hoque

In the following paper, I will discuss ‘Evil and Omnipotence,’ an essay written by the Australian philosopher J.L. Mackie. First, I will summarize the core thesis of Mr. Mackie’s essay. I will then outline my reasons for endorsing his views by elaborating on some of the more salient points of his essay.

Mackie begins by informing the reader of the theist’s continued belief in God. While philosophers have criticized the traditional arguments for the existence of God, the theist attributes God’s existence to a non-rational explanation, beyond the reproach of reason.

Mackie proposes, in his opinion, a far more effective argument against the

Thus, if one is asking why evil at all exists, he or she automatically limits the omnipotence of God and thus God’s ability to do good. Mackie also considers the linguistic argument concerning good and evil, stressing that we give names to qualities only if they have real opposites. The qualitative nature of ‘good’ is linguistically necessary to differentiate itself from the qualitative nature of ‘evil,’ thereby confirming the existence of evil (as defined by theists). But, as Mackie points out, theists are unwilling to accept that the quantity of evil that exists in the world is calibrated at such a specific dose that it provides a necessary counter-point to the existence of

Specifically, physical evil such as pain and disease apparently exist, because it they forth in us the qualities of benevolence and sympathy. By accepting this solution one concludes that God not only, deliberately maintains pain and misery in order to encourage desirable qualities such as sympathy, but that God is more concerned with promoting sympathy and benevolence than with removing pain and disease. Mackie points to the many absurdities of this solution and the general unease with which some theists endorse