Marilyn McCord Adams on Evil

The Problem of Evil is usually presented as a problem for believers. How could a good and all-powerful tolerate such evil in the world? In this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast Marilyn Adams turns this around, arguing that it is a problem for optimistic non-believers.

Listen to Marilyn McCord Adams on Evil

Comments

[Chris C.]

I would like to echo Carl apropos Adams' context. I think many of these comments are a bit overly antagonistic as well. Are we all rational philosophers or have we already divided ourselves into 'theist' and 'atheist' camps? Adams is a universalist and as progressive as one can be (LGBT-affirmative, left wing politics, proper Biblical criticism, etc.); to respond to her as some have suggests (to me alone, perhaps...) that we are more interested in theory than practice, in arguing for the sake of argument when we should be arguing for the sake of improvement. More moderated responses are called for, I think.

[Chris]

I'm in agreement with the majority of commentary here, Ms. McCord's logic is poor. I was about to comment this was the first Philosophy Bites episode I didn't enjoy, when I read David's comment above. I was forced to examine why I felt her arguments were invalid and what specifically about her position I felt was wrong. Keep up the great work!

[Zach K.]

Many of the responses on here simply declare that Dr. Adams' arguments are bad -- yet I have not seen many people provide specifics for why her arguments are bad. Her idea is that horrendous evils challenge human agency and present, in many cases, the capacity to degrade human persons and wreck their lives. It is very unlikely that the vast majority of humans will find reasonable happiness in this life. In light of this, I think Dr. Adams wants to claim that, on a purely naturalistic basis, there isn't a lot to be hopeful for in this life, unless one believes in a maximally good being.

[J]

Unlike many of the commentators, I think that professor Adams presents us with a rather formidable challenge. Although optimism comes in degrees, as John Perry recently commented on philosophy talk, the idea that it makes no serious difference to our lives, and to our capacity to flourish, if there is no God can only be taken up in bad faith. This doesn't prove that nonbelievers should be downright pessimistic, it just means that the kind of optimism many people vouch for is largely deluded (There is lots of work in experimental psychology to support the delusion too).