Problem of Evil essays

When we are talking about God, the most common understanding is that God is the greatest possible being. God is said to be perfect in every way. The general description that we give when asked what attributes God has is that he is omnipotent, omnibenevolent, and omniscient; that is to say that he is thought to be all-powerful, loving, and all-knowing. All three of these attributes together make the perfect being. However, these three attributes that are supposed to combine...

Abhorrent judgments abound these days. Violence. Hate. War. Political insanity over authority. It all seems so negative. Events and such individuals become more disturbing than the last, and this initiates the loss of hope. Nevertheless, what if things are not as bad as they seem? What if the view about what is occurring in the world is warped by the very means by which one learns about it? Therefore, in the novel 'Paradise Lost,' written by John Milton and in...

“There are very few people who are going to look in the mirror and say. ‘That person I see is a savage monster;’ instead they make up some construction that justifies what they do” - Noam Chomsky. In the novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding suggests that one cannot acknowledge the presence of evil if evil has overcome them. Golding demonstrates how some characters including Ralph, Piggy and Simon acknowledge the chaotic behaviour growing on the island while other...

Since its birth, humanity has seen conflict. Chaos and genocide. Good and evil. Most people wouldn’t hesitate to call Hitler evil or any other perpetrators of the like. But these killers, murderers, rapists, thieves, were human beings. Hitler was a rebellious delinquent who desired to attend a classical high school and study the arts. Yet, he became the man responsible for the death of millions. How does one so normal, become festered with hate and evil? The most common answer...

Philosophy is the study of ultimacy through reason, there have been many influential Greek philosophers asking and trying to find answers to fundamental questions of human existence. A few of those philosophers include Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, to name a few. Specifically, Epicurus firmly argued over the Problem of Evil. The Problem of Evil is defined as a logical conflict involving the mere existence of evil not being compatible with the existence of God. This is also the core objection...

Today’s society is so egocentric in a way where people’s own selfish wants can blur their vision of what is right and wrong. In Golding’s allegorical novel ‘Lord of the Flies’, a group of boys from ages six through twelve found themselves stranded on a deserted island, completely isolated from the outside world. They quickly developed a way to survive on this island by establishing rules which they must abide by. This false sense of civilization which the boys created...

Evil is among the world under this God described to be omnipotent, all knowing and all good within monotheistic religions (Judaism, Islam and Christianity). A all perfect God that still allows evil to crawl the very corners of our world and allows suffering, but why? This will be tackled in the sense of free will in defense of this God and explain the reason behind evil’s very existence through religious exclusivism of Christianity. Free will is going to be defined...

A protagonist handling a series of misfortunes is a common theme in literature and film both modern and ancient. In A Serious Man directed by the Coen brothers, Larry Gopnick is put through a fast paced deterioration of his passion for life as everything he cared about was stripped from him. This film directly connects to the book of Job. The book of Job is filled with wisdom on God’s infliction of pain but also healing on the human soul....

In every story the good triumphs all but what if the good was tainted before the end of the story unfold. In the Play “Hamlet”, William Shakespeare, an English poet, playwright and an actor, widely referred to as the greatest writer and a key component to the development of modern English.With “Hamlet” being on of his greatest works it made people speculate what made this story such a success. Was it the blur line between good and evil. In the...

The short story entitled “Young Goodman Brown” by author Nathaniel Hawthorne suggests that everyone is corruptible. The Dark Romanticism story develops by Goodman Brown gradually giving into evil through the corruption of his wife, Faith, and his encounter with the devil. All the main characters are deceiving to Goodman Brown, and he sees they are corrupt. There appears to be also many instances in which symbols that portray the struggle of good versus evil, Hawthorne suggests that evil will take...

The authors main argument Theodore Dalrymple main argument range from the fact that the society is eating itself in the sense that numerous evil that is taking place emanates from our own previous actions. People are getting used to misery and problems to the extent that they take actions without preceding their consequences. For instance, the author uses a prisoner as an example that after serving their jail terms they leave with their heads high with the intention that they...

From the poem Beowulf, we first hear of the character Grendel and how Beowulf defeated him. The writer, John Gardener inspired by the poem, Beowulf, he created a novel that showed Grendel’s past and what made him the creature he was in that poem. Pretty much like making a prequel to a movie. And in that novel, Grendel by John Gardener, Grendel is a human-like creature who is intelligent and capable of thinking and having emotion, first glance Grendel seems...

GULP gulps, gulp GULP! What is consumed can make a person change. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde was written by Robert Louis Stevenson 133 years ago. My topics are drug substance, effects on relationships, and good vs evil. Drug abuse can change you which can lead to good vs evil. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' by Robert Louis Stevenson a predominant theme that is perpetuated throughout the novel is that of good versus...

The question about if humans are essentially good has been asked for many years. Different philosophers and even scientists have tried to answer it, yet there is no true answer. This topic can be controversial since we are all involved and the nature of us being evil or good is very subjective. It is very important to define the terms I will be discussing, since different people have different opinions. Human nature is the main characteristics shared by all people...

Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird depicts a range of themes like bravery, the law,racism,social inequality and so on. All of which she put in a way that all themes relate in one way or another, but I think the main theme in To Kill a Mockingbird is good and evil. This book shows the early life of the writer Harper Lee, who lived in the south and through the 1930s, which was the time of the great depression and...

“About the nature of human beings. I discovered that confronted by temptation, we will always fall. Given the right circumstances, every human being on this earth would be willing to commit evil. (Paulo Coelho)”. In the novel, Lord of the Flies, author William Golding institutes an unambiguous theme that presents the innate evil in every human being; that of which is deterred by a standardized society through deemed acceptable regulations, laws, and punishments. In the story a group of young...

All our lives we have been taught what is right and what is wrong, and what is good and what is bad. There is a difference and one knows when they are good or bad. “One does evil enough when one does nothing good”(Picture Quotes). This quote states that when you do not do any good you are considered evil. The differences between good and evil are numerous and how culture affects whether one is good or evil. To begin...

Hsun Tzu, being an early Chinese philosopher and a Confucian scholar, was a highly intellectual individual, who offered a thorough and complete analysis of the Confucian theories. Also known as Xunzi, Hsun Tzu had rather conflicting and controversial theories compared to the other great architects of Confucianism; although he supported the central teachings of the religion. Xunzi believed that man’s nature is evil and goodness is the result of conscious activity. His argument that man is born evil is supported...

The dictionary definition of evil is “morally bad, cruel, or very unpleasant”. But in psychological terms what is evil? Why is this idea of being evil so feared and why are people deemed evil? Is evil just a concept that has been made up to put a label on other peoples’ actions to bring comfort to others as then then know these so-called evil people are abnormal or is it a deeper issue. Can our own minds make us turn...

In our world good and evil coexist in a harmony of chaos. Evil, in a terribly broad sense is simply the absence of good. Often in legends or religions, evil is denoted as something of the supernatural or magical force. It can sometimes be seen as an evil that doesn’t exist, a figment of our imagination. I’ve been listening to a podcast my Aaron Mahnke, in it he speaks of and legends of the world, old and new, and discusses...

The Bible shows the way to go to heaven, not the way the heavens go. - Galileo You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself. - Galileo The Philosophical and Moral Dilemma of Evil The most crucial issue for philosophical, religious and moral consideration is the statement as to the nature of evil. The most obvious feature is the inherent nature of misery which defines the character of creation within, but at the...

There is a question that has been going around for years. The question is whether man is born good or evil. One movie that portrays man is inherently evil is “A Clockwork Orange” by Stanley Kubrick. The movie is about the boy who rapes and tortures people for fun. He ends up going to prison and starts to act like he regrets his actions so he can be accepted into a program. He continues to have evil thoughts and feelings....

The film Bladerunner by Ridley Scott and the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley address the concept of nature verse nurture and the impact these two elements have on the human identity, on free will and memories. Through both texts it is clear that humans are not created evil but rather a product of their environment (nature), molded and morphed by experiences and relationships (nurture). If humanity is abandoned or neglected, destruction follows. “Abhorred monster! Fiend that thou art! The tortures...

In his 2008 Ted Talk, speech entitled: “The Psychology of Evil,” Philip Zimbardo explores the nature of human evilness. He argues that when a person changes it is because the situation changes. When he put a good person in a bad situation they turn into a bad person. Then he talks about how these experiments affected the people mentaly. Zimbardo's research becomes especially helpful when Reading William Golding's Lord of the Flies, which also explores the idea of a person's...

What is evil? What triggers evil intentions? Evil is the act or intent of harming someone whether it is mentally or physically. It is being unethical and wicked, in addition to harming others for pleasure or profit. Evil is throughout the world, whether it is natural evil or moral evil. It does not matter if it is big or small, old or young, evil things and wicked people exist all around us. Some people who believe that people are born...

Introduction to the Innate Goodness of Humanity ‘We are fickle, stupid beings with poor memories and a great gift for self destruction.’---(Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games: Mocking Bird) The book ‘Lord of the Flies’ written by William Golding tells a story about a bunch of British kids experienced an air crush during the Second World War. The story was mainly about the events they been through on the deserted island they landed on at the first place. But, to my...

The theme of good versus evil within the novel, Salem’s Lot by Stephen King, seemed straightforward at first. Indeed, the vampires are a clear manifestation of evil, that big, bad, devil worshipping, drink your blood kind of evil. However, it becomes apparent that many people within the town itself are evil as well. This blurs the lines between good and evil. After all, people are supposed to be good and vampires are supposed to be evil in this kind of...

Every choice becomes a consequence whether it is good or evil, and every consequence can serve a different light in a situation. As a society in an age of technology and social media, we hear everybody's story, see everybody’s struggle, and feel everybody’s pain, based on events, actions, and words. Being an African-American female, I may be judged based on the color of my skin because sometimes people can have a tendency to hurt others in a way to give...

Man is capable of both good and evil, but which nature were we originally born with? Mencius released Man’s Nature Is Good, discussing his standpoint on this topic, but in a much different light than most. Mencius clearly believes that all men are born inherently good with desires to achieve principle respect by making moral decisions. Later, in Hsun Tzu’s written piece Man’s Nature is Evil, we clearly see that his philosophy is founded upon the idea that all men...

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around it”(Lee 189). This means you can’t judge a person about what they are and what they stand for, you have to understand where they are coming from and what they really like within themselves not what other people say. Scout and Jem finch the main characters in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. They learn good...