Question:
– Is the so-call “Problem of Evil” strong enough to dismantle the theistic view of the world? Is any of “theodicies” convincing enough to uphold it?
Use the following sources in the essay:
Reading A…St. Thomas, Summa Theologica, Q.2, esp., 3rd Article, Obj. 1 (p.5) & Reply (p.7)
Reading B…Zagzebski, “The Problem of Evil”
The final paper could be either (1) your own conclusive thought or (2) your own critical examination of others’ arguments, or even a mixture of both.
Whether you’re inclined to be theistic or atheistic, (or even in the middle, i.e., agnostic) is not my interest as a professor teaching you logic. The key is to be as logically clear as one can be, and as argumentative as one can be. The “essential” requirement for that aspect of the essay is to do “Reconstruction” whereby you specify the following two indispensable components of an argument which your essay should be:
1. the conclusion of your essay
2. the premises which you employ to support the conclusion
In other words, “Reconstruction” refers to a precise restatement of an argument, where the conclusion and the premises are clearly articulated. The idea is to lay out its “inferential” structure as clearly as possible. Indeed, that is what we have been studying throughout the semester. (There is no need to be formally rigorous to use letters for sentences as we have done in proof; rather actual sentences for the conclusion and the premises will do.)