Horrendous evils and the ethical perfection of God

Thesis

Horrendous evils pose distinctive challenges for belief in an ethically perfect God. To home in on these challenges, I construct an ethical framework for theodicy by sketching four cases of human action where horrors are either caused, permitted, or risked, either for pure benefit (i.e., a benefit that does not avert a still greater harm) or for harm avoidance.

I then bring the framework and the moral valuations confirmed by this casuistry to bear on the project of theodicy. I constr...

Expand abstract

Authors: Vitale, V; Vincent Vitale

• Publication date: 2012
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: Oxford University, UK
• Language: English
• Keywords: suffering; theodicy; problem of evil; evil; non-identity problem
• Subjects: Philosophy,psychology and sociology of religion; Metaphysics; Philosophy; Ethics (Moral philosophy); Christianity and Christian spirituality; Theology and Religion