Evidential problem of evil Problem of evil

william l. rowe s example of natural evil: in distant forest lightning strikes dead tree, resulting in forest fire. in fire fawn trapped, horribly burned, , lies in terrible agony several days before death relieves suffering. rowe cites example of human evil innocent child victim of violence , thereby suffers.

the evidential version of problem of evil (also referred probabilistic or inductive version), seeks show existence of evil, although logically consistent existence of god, counts against or lowers probability of truth of theism. example, critic of plantinga s idea of mighty nonhuman spirit causing natural evils may concede existence of such being not logically impossible argue due lacking scientific evidence existence unlikely , unconvincing explanation presence of natural evils. both absolute versions , relative versions of evidential problems of evil presented below.

a version william l. rowe:

another paul draper:

^ rowe, william l. (1979). problem of evil , varieties of atheism . american philosophical quarterly. 16: 336–37. 
^ cite error: named reference iepevidential invoked never defined (see page).
^ draper, paul (1989). pain , pleasure: evidential problem theists . noûs. noûs, vol. 23, no. 3. 23 (3): 331–50. doi:10.2307/2215486. jstor 2215486.