Philosophy

Philosophy Study Guide

for soul-making. Hick believes that because there is not enough time on this Earth for our souls to become sufficiently enlightened, there must be an afterlife in which this process is continued. 3.10 A Critique of Hick’s Theodicy Edward Madden and Peter Hare discuss the difficulties involved in Hick’s position and discuss in detail the three informal fallacies that Hick uses in his solution to evil. Three informal fallacies include: ● All or nothing: The claim that something is desirable because its complete loss would be far worse than the evil its presence now causes. The mistake is the assumption that we must have this thing either in its present form and amount or not at all, but it is often the case that only some amount of the thing in some form is necessary to the achievement of a desirable end. ● It could be worse: This is the claim that something is not really bad because it will be followed by all manner of desire bale things. The mistake is the assumption that that having these later desirable things is a great benefit and shows that the original evil is a necessary and not costless. It actually only shows that the situation would be worse if the desirable things did not follow and to show that it could be worse does not show that it could not be better. ● Slippery slope: This is the claim that if God once started eliminating evils of this world, we would have no place to stop short of a perfect world in which only robots were possible. The mistake is the assumption that God would have no criterion to indicate where on the slippery slope to stop and no ability to implement it effectively. Hick’s use of the free will solution concedes that there is an appalling amount of moral evil in the world but insists that it would be logically impossible for God to achieve his purpose of soul-making by creating puppets who always acted rightly. 3.11 Faith and Religious Experience For many religious believers, traditional proofs and evidence may play a role in their religious beliefs, but in the final analysis, it is the power of faith that forms the core of their commitment. Faith has to do with the acceptance of a belief as true in situations in which one does not have direct empirical knowledge and where, perhaps, no empirical knowledge is even possible. Some philosophers would say that faith is a choice, not in itself a type of knowledge in the traditional sense, although the believer will certainly be likely to talk about the knowledge derived from faith. Faith is often thought to lead to a form of knowing that is fundamentally different from objective and rational analysis—one that transcends traditional categories of thought and language. For many religions, faith is based on developing a relationship with a supernatural force or Creator. Faith necessarily involves risk, as it is the very absence of conclusive demonstrable proof that makes room for faith. If we were objectively certain in our beliefs, faith would be unnecessary. Faith entails the possibility of our being wrong whether it is regarding religion or regarding love. In spite of the risk there is a primal urge in many people to believe and to have faith in the reality of something larger than themselves.

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