God the Best and Evil 1st Edition by Bruce Langtry ISBN 0191553514 9780199238798

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ISBN 10: 0191553514 
ISBN 13: 9780199238798
Author: Bruce Langtry

God, the Best, and Evil is an original treatment of some longstanding problems about God and his actions towards human beings. First, Bruce Langtry explores some implications of divine omnipotence, omniscience, and perfect goodness for God’s providence. In particular, he investigates whether God is in some sense a maximizer. Second, he assesses the strength of objections to the existence of God that are based on the apparent fact that God could have created a better world than this one. Finally, he assesses the strength of objections to the existence of God that focus on the problem of evil. To create a (possible) world is to strongly or weakly actualize it. A world is prime if God can create it, and he cannot create a world better than it. This book’s conclusions include the following: (1) If there is at least one prime world, then if God does create some world he will create a prime world. (2) If there are no prime worlds, then it does not follow that God does not exist. Instead, what follows is that if God creates a world he will create one that is good enough, despite the fact that he could create a world which is better. (3) This conclusion does not give rise to a good objection to theism, based on the apparent fact that the actual world is improvable and yet it is not good enough (4) Even if there is a best world, or several equal-best worlds, God cannot create any of them. (5) A good partial theodicy for evil can be provided, appealing to goods bound up with human free will, moral responsibility, and the roles of individuals’ own personal traits in shaping their own and other people’s lives. The partial theodicy is neutral between Theological Compatibilism and libertarianism. (6) The problem of evil does not provide a very strong objection to the existence of God.

God the Best and Evil 1st Table of contents:

1. Introduction: Problems, Concepts, and Background Theories
1.1 The aims and structure of this book
1.2 Moral criticisms of the project
1.3 ‘God’
1.4 Theological Determinism
1.5 Molinism
1.6 Open Theism
1.7 Creation and creatability
1.8 Omnipotence
1.9 Omniscience
1.10 Possible worlds and moral necessity
1.11 The concept of evil
2. God and Worlds than which there are None Better
2.1 Are there worlds having infinite value?
2.2 Infinite value and maximal worlds
2.3 Maximal worlds in the absence of quantitative value
2.4 What God can do: compatibilist analysis
2.5 What God can do: libertarian analyses
3. Divine Choice from Infinite Hierarchies of Creatable Worlds
3.1 Context and aims
3.2 Rowe’s positive arguments for the Entailment Thesis
3.3 An argument in favour of satisficing
3.4 Worlds that are good enough
3.5 Finite and infinite creatable hierarchies: implications for Rowe
3.6 Other recent supporters of the Entailment Thesis
4. World Creation when there are Prime Worlds
4.1 Prime Actually and Better Outcome/Action
4.2 Risk of serious loss
4.3 Overriding moral duties
4.4 The less good is good enough
4.5 Contingent desires and underlying personality traits
4.6 Divine grace and beneficence
4.7 Loyalties and commitments
4.8 Self-sacrifice
4.9 Divine choice given creatable hierarchies of both kinds
4.10 Divine choice given several creatable hierarchies, all containing prime members
4.11 Corollaries of foregoing conclusions
5. Empirical Objections to Theism, not based on Evil
5.1 A dilemma for theological determinists and Molinists
5.2 The argument from there being prime worlds
5.3 The argument from there being no prime worlds
5.4 An objection to open theism
6. Logical Arguments from Evil, against the Existence of God
6.1 Mackie’s 1955 argument
6.2 McCloskey’s 1974 arguments
6.3 Absolute moral duties
6.4 Schellenberg’s 1993 argument
7. Theodicy for Two General Truths about Evil
7.1 Aims and opening considerations
7.2 The core argument concerning suffering and dysfunction: first part
7.3 The inference from (3) and (4) to (5): theological-compatibilist analysis
7.4 The inference from (3) and (4) to (5): Open Theist and Molinist analyses
7.5 A short remark about Premiss (6)
7.6 The core argument concerning suffering and dysfunction: second part
7.7 The inference from (3*)and (4*)to(5*)
7.8 A case for Premiss (6*)
7.9 Suffering, dysfunction, and heaven
7.10 Distribution, moral desert, and equality
7.11 Objections from alternative goods
7.12 The core argument concerning wrong
7.13 The inference from (c)&(d) to (e); Premiss (f)
7.14 More specific kinds of wrong
8. Evidential Arguments from Evil, against the Existence of God
8.1 Tooley’s 1991 argument
8.2 Rowe’s 1996 argument
8.3 The argument from horrifically bad lives
8.4 Schellenberg’s 2000 argument

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Tags: Bruce Langtry, God, Evil