Evil In The Consolation Of Philosophy By Boethius

In the course of this essay I will argue that evil is not compatible with the existence of god. This means that evil and God cannot coexist because if god were present, the existence of evil would contradict all that god is believed to be. Abrahamic religions insist that God both created the world and that he preserves and maintains it. Christianity claims that God is all knowing and is boundless in his abilities. Religions claim that God is benevolent, and only wants the best for humanity and the universe, as his creations. If all of the above statements be true, then it is hard to understand why god would allow evil to thrive right from the beginning of time.

By definition, evil is an act or feeling that is “profoundly immoral and malevolent”. The problem is that evil is a subjective term. Each person sees evil differently.

One of the oldest dilemmas in philosophy is also one of the greatest threats to Christian theology. The problem of evil simultaneously perplexes the world’s greatest minds and yet remains palpably close to the hearts of the most common people. If God is good, then why is there evil? The following essay describes the problem of evil in relation to God, examines Christian responses to the problem, and concludes the existence of God and the existence of evil are fully compatible.

“Either we must say that God is not wholly good, and that he permits or is even the author of evil. Or we must say that God is not omnipotent, and although he is wholly good and would prevent evil if he could, he is powerless to stop it.” (Fitzgerald 340).

John Hick discusses in his essay The Problem of Evil, the objections to the belief in the existence of God is the presence of evil in the world. He begins by posing the traditional challenge to theism in the form of the dilemma: That if God was perfectly loving, he must wish to abolish evil, and being all powerful, is able to perfectly do so as he will its. He then proceeds to present some views regarding this issue, giving insights from three point of views, that of contemporary Christian Science, the Boston Personalist school, and the theologian Augustine. The first opinion takes evil as an illusion, as a construct of the human mind. The second confers upon God finity, God as a struggling ruler,

The most influential definition of evil is nicely summarised by Swinburne proclaimed when discussing about evil, context is very important factors to consider when talking about the subject of evil he said evil include physical pain, for

evil creates or brings good. Yet, if there was only good we would not have to

Since the discovery of philosophy by the Greek civilizations man has always tried to find the cause of many fundamental problems that are connected to the reality and existence of factors that contribute to these dilemmas but still remain unknown to humanity. One of the most controversial questions philosophy tries to answer is the origin of what we consider evil, who or what is connected to the main cause of the pain and suffering that goes on throughout the world. “Evil is when one purposefully causes pain, not pain caused by fault, knowing something is morally wrong, but still proceeds in doing so. Simply by the definition of evil,

To understand evil we must first understand the concept that good and evil are term or words referring to what one given individuals believes to be the right and wrong thing to do. Good, many times

What if one were to ignore any semblance of analog to allegory and view the Consolation as a final memoire? If one were to presume that Boethius actually wrote the document while imprisoned (and not while on house arrest, or while under investigation and otherwise distant the abuses of the dank and vermin-ridden dim confines of the medieval dungeon), is Boethius demonstrating a psychosis through his hallucination of LP, manifested by the tortures and deprivations of pre-execution and confinement? Alternatively, perhaps more simply, Consolation may be viewed as a political document. Let’s briefly consider both.

The laws of nature also attempt to defend God. A theist claims that the laws of nature creates evil, and it is irrational for God to intervene in every case of suffering and danger. If God did become involved, it would be impossible for anything to be predictable. In other words, nature and the cause and effect that people know would not be consistent or reliable. Johnson agrees that God’s involvement in every disaster would be wrong. As Johnson states, “To argue that continued miraculous intervention by God would be wrong is like insisting that one should never use salt because ingesting five pounds of it would be fatal” (Pojman 123). However, God should step in to stop or prevent the most horrific of disasters. Where is the line drawn, though? Johnson says it should be on the side of intervening more than not. Even if it is not known where to draw the line, no excuse should be made to not interfere in instances of pure evil. Thus, the laws of nature do not excuse the coexistence of God and evil.

The problem of evil is as ancient as humanity itself. Since the dawn of man, thinkers, philosophers, religionists and practically every human being who have suffered at the hands of evil have pondered this enigma, either as a logical-intellectual-philosophical or emotional-religious-existential problem. The preponderance of evil as a reality in human existence, and

Let’s start with the fact that God is powerful enough to control human thought and action to such a point that if he truly desired it we would not doubt his existence. Nevertheless such a doubt does exist so it can be established that humanity has the capacity to choose “a course of action from among various other alternatives (Free Will)”. Having that ability in conjunction to what many philosophers claim to be a naturally selfish human nature results in a combination were the prevailing outcome is human suffering. However not all suffering is a result of human action or inaction which brings us to the following point.

Understanding the meaning of human pain and suffering is one of the most complex challenges of the Christian faith. Indeed, we can ask ourselves, If God is love, and almighty why does he allow pain in the world? Why does not He eliminate suffering, making all His creatures happy? Suffering is a theme that has accompanied man throughout history. Since the