Behind Mackie's Argument For Atheism

1968 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Problems with evil and omnipotence j. l. mackie

Mackie in his paper Evil and Omnipotence, constructs an argument against the idea of the possibility of a God existing that has the characteristics laid out by the main religions: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. These characteristics include that God is omnipotent, or He is capable of stopping evil, and omni benevolent, or He wants to eliminate evil and He is entirely good. Mackie systematically goes through his logical thought process as well as his response to any type of criticism or alternative solution that might arise. The main point of his argument is to establish that God, as constructed by Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, could not possibly exist. It is one of the most highly regarded arguments towards atheism.

Mackie wishes to disprove the existence of God, or at least the view of God being both omnipotent and wholly good, through an argument which uses the problem of the existence of evil. Here is how he lays the argument out: 1. Suppose there is a God, whom is composed of the above characteristics. 2. If this God is omnipotent, then there is no limit to His ability or what He can do. 3. If this God is wholly good then it would be assumed that He would want to eliminate evil completely. 4. If there was a God who knew evil existed, could eliminate evil, and wanted to eliminate evil then it would make logical sense that there would be no evil. 5. However, evil does exist. 6. Therefore an omnipotent and wholly good God cannot exist. This argument is analogous, say, to a master chef, in that this chef is capable of cooking only the best tasting food in the world, he is able to cook this way all the time, and he knows that people only like good tasting food. However, in this chef's restaurant there always seems to be some food that is vile tasting. But, if the Chef was able to cook the best tasting food all the time and he knew that people only wanted good tasting food, then we would have to surmise that this type of chef could not possibly exist. Again, Mackie's argument is not against the existence of God, but against the existence of a God that is composed of the characteristics of being omnipotent and wholly good.

In his paper Mackie not only lays out his own case for atheism but he also rebuts any argument that might be contrary to his own.

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of On Being An Atheist By H. J Mccloskey

    850 Words  | 2 Pages

    Coherence is an essential part of the theist’s belief structure. The individual arguments when joined collectively hold just that, coherence. While individually they do not point to evidence together they do. This coherence forms a basis of truth, supporting each other in their claim and not contradicting them. In this manner they establish truth where facts are lacking. If we examine independently the arguments presented by McCloskey they too lack adequacy to establish the nonexistence of God.

    Read More

  • The Argument from Design, by William Paley

    1096 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...erfect goodness and is morally good all the time. Paley's supreme being is never attributed with being a good or bad, loving or hateful, individual. A second important characteristic of God is that he is omniscient; he knows everything about anything there is to know; although Paley's supreme being is intelligent enough to engender the first creation, it does not imply that he knows about all the subsequent creations which rose from that first creation. Thirdly, God is considered to be all-powerful or omnipotent while the supreme being possesses the power to create the first creation. Lastly, God is an eternal being whose existence defies space and time. At the start of Paley's a posteriori argument, it was concluded that while anything that shows evidence of creation has a creator, such creator exists or has existed at one point in time but is by no means eternal.

    Read More

  • The Cosmological Argument and the Mystical Argument

    1119 Words  | 3 Pages

    The controversial topic involving the existence of God has been the pinnacle of endless discourse surrounding the concept of religion in the field of philosophy. However, two arguments proclaim themselves to be the “better” way of justifying the existence of God: The Cosmological Argument and the Mystical Argument. While both arguments attempt to enforce strict modus operandi of solidified reasoning, neither prove to be a better way of explaining the existence of God. The downfall of both these arguments rests on commitment of fallacies and lack of sufficient evidence, as a result sabotaging their validity in the field of philosophy and faith.

    Read More

  • The Problem of Evil in the Judeo-Christian Tradition Depicted in Hicks' Philosophy of Religion

    979 Words  | 2 Pages

    Either element of the conclusion is damaging to the traditional understanding of a Judeo-Christian God. It seems simple enough. A benevolent Creator appears incompatible with what we understand to be the existence of evil. Evil is opposed to God’s will, eventually cumulating in the crucifixion of God’s son, Jesus. One must then wonder how an all-loving and all-powerful God would allow such pain to occur to both his creation and Jesus. A perfect God’s world should be similarly perfect. The world is not perfect so it seems that God must not be all-loving or He must not be all-powerful. Rejecting the existence of evil, immediately rejects too much of the Judeo-Christian tradition to be considered, though some philosophers have considered it.

    Read More

  • John Hick And Richard Swinburne: The Problem Of Evil Argument

    1651 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout the world, most people believe in some type of god or gods, and the majority of them understand God as all-good, all-knowing (omniscient), and all-powerful (omnipotent). However, there is a major objection to the latter belief: the “problem of evil” (P.O.E.) argument. According to this theory, God’s existence is unlikely, if not illogical, because a good, omniscient, and omnipotent being would not allow unnecessary suffering, of which there are enormous amounts.

    Read More

  • J.L. Mackie's Evil and Omnipotence

    1664 Words  | 4 Pages

    The problem of evil is a deductive a priori argument who’s goal is to prove the non-existence of God. In addition to Mackie’s three main premises he also introduces some “quasi-logical” rules that give further evidence to his argument. First he presumes that a good thing will eliminate evil to the extent that it can and second, that omnipotence has no limits. From these two “additional premises,” it can be concluded that a completely good and omnipotent being will eliminate all possible evil. After establishing these added premises Mackie continues with his piece to list and negate several theistic responses to the argument.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Paley's Argument For The Existence Of God

    704 Words  | 2 Pages

    When it comes to choosing an argument for the existence of god I believe that Paley’s argument of creation and design is the best for proving that god does exist. In his argument Paley is suggesting that if we were to look at the world around us, we could easily come to the conclusion that it was not created by pure chance but, by a creator (a designer). Paley uses a watch and a rock in order to explain his argument. He mentions how if there was a watch on the floor and we have never seen it before, we would easily come to the conclusion that the watch could not have been made by pure chance but, some kind of intelligent design was put into it. He argues that when we look at the rock we do not so easily see the design, but it does not mean

    Read More

  • Comparing God, Evil, And Suffering

    715 Words  | 2 Pages

    There is evil. 3. So, God does not exist”. Since there is evil, then that means God does not exist. So there is no loving and powerful God. However, if there is a God then he is not all loving and powerful. Daniel Howard-Snyder states in his article “God, Evil, And Suffering,”: “We would have to say God lacks power and knowledge to such an extent that He can 't prevent evil. And there lies the trouble. For how could God have enough power and knowledge to create and sustain the physical universe if He can 't even prevent evil? How could He be the providential governor of the world if He is unable to do what even we frequently do, namely prevent evil?” (5). This statement argues that God is not all powerful because he is unable to prevent evil in the world. Daniel Howard-Snyder then argues that: “Would a perfectly good being always prevent evil as far as he can? Suppose he had a reason to permit evil, a reason that was compatible with his never doing wrong and his being perfect in love, what I 'll call a justifying reason. For example, suppose that if he prevented evil completely, then we would miss out on a greater good, a good whose goodness was so great that it far surpassed the badness of evil. In that case, he might not prevent evil as far as he can, for he would have a justifying reason to permit it” (5). Even if God had a reason to allow evil, he who is all loving and powerful would want the least amount of people to suffer and feel pain. Since God knows

    Read More

  • The Proof of the Existence of God

    1421 Words  | 3 Pages

    If God did not exist, he would not be the greatest being imaginable. He is the greatest thing imaginable. Therefore, he does exist. From this argument, God’s existence is viewed. as necessary (Ayer. A. J. 1973).

    Read More

  • God And The Origin Of The Universe Chapter 1 Summary

    1684 Words  | 4 Pages

    Then, in the preceding section, Rachels, tries to validate the existence of God by using several types of arguments such as Argument from design, Evolution and Intelligent

    Read More

  • Mackie's Paradox Of Evil

    158 Words  | 1 Pages

    Mackie argues that the paradox of evil is that God is both Omnipotent and absolutely good, yet evil is still prevalent throughout the world. If good is truly opposed to evil, than a good will without fail always eliminate an evil. Since there are no limits to what an omnipotent being can do, then a good omnipotent being would automatically negate or remove any and all evil simply through existing. This means that if a good omnipotent being exists then evil cannot exist and if evil does exist then a good omnipotent being cannot exist. Since few people deny that evil exists, Mackie believes the existence of evil means that a good omnipotent being cannot exists. While I do agree that logically there can be no real answer for the issue of evil

    Read More

  • Teleological Argument Analysis

    695 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are four major arguments for the existence of God; teleological, cosmological, ontological and morals. None of which do a convincing job of God’s existence. Every argument is going to have a counter, one always being stronger. The most devastating of the arguments is the ontological argument. Taking two things that are based on believing and imagining and putting them together to prove each other’s existence isn’t proving anything. For God to exist he has to be omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. All three of these core qualities have contradictories. An omnipotent God would be able to create an absolutely immovable object, yet be able to move it ( “How to Prove that God Doesn’t Exist”. Comments), so, therefore, it is not absolutely

    Read More

  • William Lane Craig Does God Exist

    677 Words  | 2 Pages

    Dr. William Lane Craig supports the idea of existence of God. He gives six major arguments, in order to defend his position. The first argument is quite fare, Craig says that God is the best reason of existence of everything. He gives the idea, that the debates between all the people, cannot reach the compromise, because the best explanation of the reasons of existence of everything is God, and nothing can be explained without taking Him into consideration. The second argument of Craig is from a cosmological point of view: he says that the existence of the universe is the best proof of the existence of God. Because, the process of the creation of the universe is so ideally harmonious, that it seems impossible to appear accidentally. The third argument is about the fine tuning of the universe. The universe is designed in such a way that people always have aim of life, and the life of people and the nature are interconnected. The fourth argument of Dr. Craig is about the morality: God is the best explanation of the existence of the morality and moral values in people’s lives. The...

    Read More

  • Descartes' First Meditation

    1330 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ssage. He even provides an argument for those who do not believe in an all powerful god, and proves these non-believers would be further cast into doubt.

    Read More

  • An Argument for the Existence of God

    2339 Words  | 5 Pages

    This paper's purpose is to prove the existence of God. There are ten main reasons that are presented in this paper that show the actuality of God. It also shows counter-arguments to the competing positions (the presence of evil). It also gives anticipatory responses to possible objections to the thesis.

    Read More

More about Behind Mackie's Argument For Atheism

Open Document