[lit-ideas] Re: The Problem of Evil
- From: "Phil Enns" <phil.enns@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2006 08:46:51 -0500
Robert Paul wrote:
"The argument seems to be that if people are able to choose good, their
choice of good must be contrasted with the possible choice of something
opposed to it (which has in this exchange mostly been called 'evil');
thus, 'evil' is necessary for the free choice of the good. This is a
strange argument."
I agree. However, and perhaps this is no longer relevant, it isn't the
traditional Catholic argument. That argument, found in Augustine and
then finessed by Aquinas, holds that evil is not a something nor is it
something one chooses. Rather, good is understood as willing towards a
proper end and evil is willing towards a substituted end. On this
account, one does not choose to do evil, as though people would
consciously prefer to do evil, but rather one chooses something other
than what one ought to will. Freedom is freedom to will according to a
proper end and evil is willing something else. If it helps, Kant's
account of the Moral Law, and one's freedom to follow the law or not,
tracks the problem of evil fairly closely. And Kant's contortions in
reasoning for how people can not obey the Moral Law also track the
contortions we Christians engage in. It seems to me that there is a
fairly inscrutable problem here, whether one is or is not religious.
Sincerely,
Phil Enns
Toronto, ON
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