The Problem of Evil (Hardcover)

Peter van Inwagen

ISBN 10: 0199245606 / ISBN 13: 9780199245604

Published by Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2006

About this Item

Hardcover. It is generally supposed that the fact that the world contains a vast amount of suffering, much of it truly horrible suffering, confronts those who believe in an all-powerful and benevolent Creator with a serious problem: to explain why such a Creator would permit this. Many reflective people are convinced that the problem, the problem of evil, is insoluble. The reasons that underlie this conviction can be formulated as a powerful argument for the non-existence ofGod, the so-called argument from evil: If there were a God, he would not permit the existence of vast amounts of truly horrible suffering; since such suffering exists, there is no God. Peter vanInwagen examines this argument, which he regards as a paradigmatically philosophical argument. His conclusion is that (like most philosophical arguments) it is a failure. He seeks to demonstrate, not that God exists, but the fact that the world contains a vast amount of suffering does not show that God does not exist. Along the way he discusses a wide range of topics of interest to philosophers and theologians, such as: the concept of God; what might be meant bydescribing a philosophical argument as a failure; the distinction between versions of the argument from evil that depend on the vast amount of evil in the world and versions of the argument that depend on aparticular evil, such as the Lisbon earthquake or the death of a fawn in a forest fire; the free-will defense; animal suffering; and the problem of the hiddenness of God. Discusses a range of topics of interest to philosophers and theologians, such as: the concept of God; what might be meant by describing a philosophical argument as a failure; the distinction between versions of the argument from evil that depend on the amount of evil in the world and versions of the argument that depend on a particular evil. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9780199245604

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Problem of Evil (Hardcover)
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, Oxford
• Publication Date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0199245606
• ISBN 13: 9780199245604
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

The vast amount of suffering in the world is often held as a particularly powerful reason to deny that God exists. Now, one of the world's most distinguished philosophers of religion presents his own position on the problem of evil. Highly accessible and sensitively argued, Peter van Inwagen's book argues that such reasoning does not hold: his conclusion is not that God exists, but that suffering cannot be shown to prove that He does not.

About the Author

Peter van Inwagen is John Cardinal O'Hara Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame.