tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post3942221148549643109..comments2024-03-29T11:29:58.276+09:00Comments on BigHominid's Hairy Chasms: Yup. Frodo failed.Kevin Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01328790917314282058noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post-74428982846661875582019-05-13T13:49:33.400+09:002019-05-13T13:49:33.400+09:00If God is ultimately the cause of everything, then...If God is ultimately the cause of everything, then He's definitely to blame for evil and suffering, if for no other reason than that He built the <i>potential</i> for evil and suffering into the universe's ontology. When a playground swing gives way and a child gets killed, the parents (rightly) sue the makers of the playground.Kevin Kimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01328790917314282058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post-6074931576123549142019-05-12T16:19:47.454+09:002019-05-12T16:19:47.454+09:00If God exists, then natural evil is somebody's...If God exists, then natural evil is somebody's fault, maybe God's.<br /><br />Jeffery Hodges<br /><br />* * *Horace Jeffery Hodgeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16684513618463766017noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post-43669719724874533152019-05-12T13:48:37.279+09:002019-05-12T13:48:37.279+09:00Jeff,
I recall learning the distinction between t...Jeff,<br /><br />I recall learning the distinction between the two types of evil in a Problem of God class in 1987. Even back then, I was skeptical that "natural evil" was a coherent concept. A storm or earthquake (or mudslide or forest fire) might be calamitous, but there's no intentionality there, and I see intentionality as fundamental to any definition of evil.<br /><br />In his book on free will, Sam Harris offers the example of the murderer who murders because, as it turns out, he has a brain tumor that makes him psychotic. The impulse to murder might be caused by the tumor, but to my mind, this doesn't explain how the murderer is still able to use his rationality to plot and plan his kills. In other words, intentionality still plays a role in these murders, even if the killer's acts might be considered a species of "natural evil" (to be clear, I wouldn't categorize them as such) because of the brain tumor. From my perspective, the murderer's acts are still evil given the continued existence of intentionality. This is not the same as the random damage caused by storms, quakes, mudslides, fires, etc.<br /><br />It could just be that "natural evil" is coherent or not depending on whether one accepts its <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_evil" rel="nofollow">definition</a>.Kevin Kimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01328790917314282058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post-65068471071251233742019-05-12T10:01:01.662+09:002019-05-12T10:01:01.662+09:00Well, there are two sorts of evil: Moral Evil and ...Well, there are two sorts of evil: Moral Evil and Natural Evil. Gollum has lost all agency and is therefore an example of natural evil, but of a special kind - he allowed himself to lose moral agency.<br /><br />Jeffery Hodges<br /><br />* * * Horace Jeffery Hodgeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16684513618463766017noreply@blogger.com