Alvin Plantinga’s theory on evil

FREE WILL DEFENSE

By: Ben Fogarty
PLANTINGA BELIEVES THAT FREE WILL IS THE KEY TO EXPLAINING WHY
GOD CAN BE OMNIBENEVOLENT AND STILL ALLOW EVIL IN THE WORLD.

1) God is omniscient, omnipotent, and wholly good.

2) There is evil in the world.
3) If God is omnipotent, then God could have actualized just any possible world.
4) If God is omnipotent, then he could have actualized just any world that includes his
existence.
5) God could have actualized a given possible world (W) if and only if for every contingent
sate of affairs (S) that W includes, there is at a time which God can actualize S.
6) If God brings it about that I refrain from A (something), then I do not freely retain from A.
7) If Curley had been offered $20,000, he would have accepted the bribe.
8) If Curley had been offered $20,000, he would have rejected the bribe.
9) Curley accepted the bribe.
10) Curley rejected the bribe.
11) If Robbins had slipped and fallen at Thanksgiving Ledge, he would have been killed.
12) If Curley had been offered a bribe of $20,000 and had believed that his decision
would be headlined in the Boston Globe, he would have rejected the bribe.
13) If Curley had been offered a bribe of $20,000 and had believed his venality would
remain undetected, he would have accepted the bribe.
14) If the Pope were a Protestant, he would be a dissembler
15) If the Pope were a Protestant, had been born in Friesland and had been a lifelong
member of the Gereformeerde Kerk, he would be a dissembler.
C = the state of affairs consisting in Curley being offered a bribe of $20,000 and
being free to accept or reject it.
A = Curley accepting the bribe
G = God strongly actualizing
W = a possible world
T = a state of affairs that God strongly actualizes many states of affairs in addition to
C.
 MY VERSION
1) God is omniscient, omnipotent, and wholly good.
2) God gave us free will.
3) God’s Omnipotence gives him the power to control what is possible not do the
impossible.
4) It is impossible for God to ensure we never use our freedom to to do evil.
5) If God ensures that people always use their freedom the right way then we are not
really free.
FAULTS
Fails to address natural evil like storms and earthquakes