The Problem of Evil: Crash Course Philosophy #13

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After weeks of exploring the existence of nature of god, today Hank explores one of the biggest problems in theism, and possibly the biggest philosophical question humanity faces: why is there evil?

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44 Comments

  1. I am muslim, my teacher said it is about ethic. You can not say God is cruel because let some people go to hell some to heaven. As muslim there is no guarantee that I will be in heaven after my death. God create good and evil at same time but you can not question him because that is unethic.

  2. God gave Adam and Eve free will. They did evil. I don't know why God gave humans free will. The End! – – – – – On the opposite side, having a moral standard to say something is evil is a huge problem for the atheist. I have asked countless non-religious people what moral standard they use. The responses are logically unsatisfying and subjective. "From my view…" "I think…" "In my opinion…"

  3. I like my own thought/question about evil. If god is all-knowing and all-powerful and all-good and since god created everything, then god created evil, meaning that evil is good, since god made it and can do no wrong.

  4. Lots of theories so who's right? How about Ocams Razor? No God. Who or what created life or the universe? How about "We dont know at this time." it's ok not to have all the answers, why invent a fairly tale to "explain" it? And btw if you say god created it all….who created god? Lol.

  5. He says that atheists acknowledge evil, but that isn't true. There is an old adage "There is nothing good or evil, but thinking makes it so." Evil is just what we use to describe what is bad for us personally, or perhaps humanity as a whole. However, that is just our own myopic view point. Take a pandemic; that is evil to us, because it kills many of us, but it is good for the virus, because it means that it is thriving as an organism- and it may also be good to other organisms, who suffer from us destroying their habitats. In other words, what "evil" to us is "good" for others, and once you realize that, you begin to realize that there is no such thing as evil, at least not in the sense that he (and religion) uses the term; it really just means "bad from our prospective."
    Even just among human interaction, what is evil changes based on your perspective. The natives of this country likely saw the colonizers as evil for destroying their religion, but the colonizers saw the native religion as evil, and saw destroying the native religions as doing good. From one perspective (colonizers) they are helping the natives by getting rid of the thing that was threatening their eternal "souls", and thereby saving them, but from a different perspective (natives), they were attempting to erase their identity and their existence. Or take a factory being shut down and moved overseas; to the people that lost their jobs, and the towns that relied on the factory to bring in revenue, it is bad, but to the people overseas who now have jobs that pay more than they had ever been able to earn before (even though it is still less than what a worker here used to make), as well as to the corporation that makes more profit, and the consumer who now pays less for the product, it is a good thing. Again, "evil" only means "bad to me"; there is no concrete evil that is always bad- it just depends on your perspective.

  6. Silly flawed premise, theres simply no such thing as evil, its just humanity projecting its own morality onto random acts. How was that not even touched upon during the atheist beliefs.

  7. Bhagvad geeta explains that there is a dichotomy of life. Bad and evil is bhog or sufferings of a normal human being. The one who balances between good and evil becomes enlightened. It's all destined by god.

  8. My favorite is the notion that god is neither good nor evil, we simply perceive things as evil because they directly inconvenience us directly. In reality our independent, biased, mortal minds are perceiving the world in one way, where evil exists and is unacceptable, whereas God is perceiving reality through an immortal, omnipotent lens.

    Our "petty squabbles" are the equivalent to a 4th grader running up and crying that a bully pushed them down where we, as adults, perhaps realize it's a concern, but then we also need to worry about things like "the mortgage" "the economy" and "pedophiles"…things which a 4th grader probably doesn't understand fully.

  9. How do we know that this is not the minimum dosage? If only paper cuts existed, then we might see them as something so terrible, that we question the goodness of god and yet are unable to see much of the goodness.

    The only thing I grapple with is why evil hits people so differently. It can’t be right that some people have to experience so much evil just so other people can know how good they have it.

  10. ✌😐Funny how intellectuals and lay Christians try to fit consepts and opinions into a thing called God when all anyone has to do is be good to minimize suffering and maximize wellbeing…There doesn't have to be any more beings…Why wouldn't a creator God have the same need for a creator as the universe?

  11. LOL . . . Why don`t you ask a stone where is the end of universe? Hes not answering? Really? Maybe hes not there? Hahaha… Arrogance of humans is funny.

  12. Why is there evil? Because of evolution… It is based on that the people that is egoistic and think of themselves without regard for other have larger chance of surviving and getting offspring. Also girls like bad boys and more often have children with them making this effect even larger…

  13. "Evil" is simply when you hurt sentient beings. What your motivation or reason for harming other people or creatures is does not matter, if you do harm in any way you are being evil… The most evil deeds in history and still now as I say this is being done by people who wrongly think they are being good because they are arrogant idiots that believe blindly that they are "good". Because of their own lack of understanging and insight they think EVERYTHING they do must be good. This way they rationale their own evil deeds as good and have absolutely no empathy or even understanding for their victims suffering. . . . . .

  14. As a chaplain/pastor I get this question several times a year, (I'm surprised I don't get it several times a week). I wonder what a philosopher would conclude if they were to take the Bible as a hypothesis and attempted to answer questions with it. I guess that's what I have done little by little going from skeptic to teacher. My answer: Genesis ch.1:1-25). In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…and it was all good. Chapter 1:26-31) God creates mankind and GIVES His created earth to humans to subdue it and have dominion over it…without evil. Chapter two is details about the creation of mankind AND how God has now built into creation a CHOICE factor so that human kind didn't HAVE TO believe what God says if you don't want to. Genesis 3 is titled The Fall…mankind is given over to doubting that what God commanded was really true and used their human logic to rationalize their behavior (some things never change). Their actions now broke the contract and the relationship with God. What we don't find out from the Bible for a long time is that the real estate God had given humankind changed hands when they disobeyed. Satan is the one who influenced that and by doing so became the 'prince of the power of the air' (Ephesians 2:2) or ruler of the atmosphere in which we live. So it's the Evil ones world right now…hence you can't blame God. But God doesn't seem to care about the real estate (the stuff we can see) part of humanity's condition because what is important is the RELATIONSHIP part of the problem, (the stuff we can't see). We fix our relationship with God when we accept Jesus dying to pay the penalty of the long ago disobedience. No, it doesn't fix the world, just our view of it. (Hey, what do want in a nutshell?)

  15. So theodicies, huh? I highly recommend Kurzgesagt's The Egg. I wouldn't say it holds all the answers but it's beyond intriguing

  16. they left out an option. OPTION #3 because God loved man enough to give him FREE WILL AND CHOICE it opened the avenue for evil to come into man's hearts; but God LOVING MAN SO MUCH He provided a way for man to overcome it! HMMMMM

  17. I dont think the biggest problem in theism is evil. I think its faith and logic. It's so much easier to accept something based on logic than it is faith, and theism only has faith arguments. I've never heard a good logical argument for god.

  18. Referring to the Book of Judas, there is the true Creator and through its existence created lesser beings and one of those lesser beings created humans. Since the Creator didn't create humans, it makes sense why there could be evil and a way to potentially keep all 3 concepts true is that the Creator has promised life after death. Since a non-perfect being created humans, humans may never be worthy of heaven. Possibly after death, you will be reborn in the body of the spirit, immortal, and never needing anything that constrained you on earth. Just a thought.

  19. Thanks for your video @CrashCourse!!
    I would love to see a video addressing how evil can exist without the existence of an objective moral standard. This is another side of the same coin, because if someone considered the existence of evil in the world a good reason to believe God doesn't exist, I'd love to see where that same person believes evil comes from, and therefore if it is binding and true…. or simply people's opinions.

    Love your work! I hope you do my request 😊

  20. Valid but honestly do good and people expect or grow dependent. Is it not good to let things grow on their own knowing a single miracle can wipe out entire civilizations.

    Evil is a simple within without concept. Problem is many fall off trying to understand it

  21. "You can't have good without evil". Didn't you say god is ALL-powerful, he makes and remakes every rule of the universe, supposedly. He could make good without evil and would do so if he was all good, all knowing, and real in the first place.

  22. I do not accept the premise that evil exists in this world. The examples you gave are not evil in an absolute sense so I think you must start any philosophical thought exercise with a definition which we can accept and more forward on. I will not accept a "satan" based evil as I have no concept that will allow his existence. I will not accept natural "evil" as "evil" no more than I would accept a venomous snake as evil.
    When you philosophize on a undefined term you are just blowing hot air.

  23. If you ask me. The only reason we got a "problem of evil" is because people creates their own false logic version of the word which "the problem of evil" is present. I see the concept of good and evil as a man made thing and is only used for humans to communicate thoughts and feelings. It therefore can be used in infinite scenarios which all is man made.

    In other words, "the problem of evil" only exist because we choose it to exist. While in reality it doesn't.

    I believe in 3 concepts of truths.

    1. There is my truth and how I understand the world.
    2. Everyone else's own truth in which they believe to be true and understand as how the world functions.
    3. The Truth. An universal truth which can't be questioned. Also called Neutral/natural truth. A truth we humans might never understand because we got a mind of our own in which we creates our own understanding.

    An example to try explain this: A man shoots and kills an other man:

    1. I might see this as a good thing because I don't like the man who got killed and think he deserves it.
    2: Others might think it is evil because killing an other person is evil.
    3. While I can't really write anything here because it will be seen as my version of the true. However, there is a way to give a "neutral" version which then can be used to kind of explain the truth. The truth is: there is a dead man and a living man.

    While the 3rd example didn't really give and good or evil answer to the issue. It can't be said to be false. There is a dead man and one living. We can't ague us away from that. Hint, reason why I say good and evil is man made. We choose weather it being good or evil. The nature/universe doesn't. For it, it just is. No reasons behind it. (well there is a reason if we go "because the fox is hungry, it hunts and eat an animal." but it isn't a man made reason. Animals eat because that is what their brain tells them to do. It is a natural reaction for the animals to eat. Animals doesn't think about the reason why like we humans do. It just do it.

    Which brings me to my point of my 3 truths. We all make our own truths. We might never be able to understand in real truth but by knowing that our own truth is ours alone (or you so happens to share the same as someone else), we can then choose to accept we don't know the real truth and what others believe to be truth is just as valid as your own. We can try accept we aren't all the same and instead of fighting over who is right, because none of us are. we can instead focus on working together to find a truth which works best for us, weather you are alone or together with others, and then accept there are others out there with different truth than you and try get along.

    An other way of putting my 3 truths:

    1. true, false
    2. false, true
    3. neutral/absolute truth

    1. good, evil
    2. evil good
    3 neutral

    1. big, small
    2. small big
    3. the size the issue in question got

    1. green
    2. blue
    3. the color the issue in question got

    Again, we can't know what The Truth is. We can only accept it is there.

  24. Without conflict there is no difference

    The light shows the darkness, the darkness an absence of light

    Your character is shown through tribulation, not peace, for any man can be just and good when so richly awarded, treated well, and without a care nor opposition

  25. Free will. God will not force you to Love him. The biggest issue here is Satan. Your forgetting about him, and his influence on the world. Did not even mention Satan. Quit relying on your logic. If you think about it. One day you will Die and everything here in this world will be gone for you. Unattainable. So even if you get to the bottom of EVERYTHING, it's for NOTHING. Jesus Died for you so you dont have to go to Hell. Accept Him or Reject him…. your choice. If your right and we die into nothing then I have no fear. But, if Christian's are right and your wrong. You go to suffer eternally with Satan and his fallen Angel's in the Lake of Fire. So what do you have to lose by believing on Him?

  26. As we know, life isn’t just a pleasure island where everything that’s going on makes us happy all the time. Maybe, for some people who have realized, after decades of spiritual practices, that there is no big difference between life and nothing, it’s the case; but for most of us, life still means an endless struggle against a sea of trouble. Since we are not ready to admit that all these troubles come from our inability to understand the fundamental nature of being, we tend to believe that there is something outside which causes them. The problem with this belief is that it’s impossible to prove scientifically, as long as we understand the science of 21 century, that there is something outside; as well as it’s impossible to prove that there is infinite nothing outside of the known universe. However, it doesn’t pretty much affect our belief, and we not only make a claim that there is something but we also a priori know what it is. It’s evil. A meaningless word which has no content in it, though it’s usage may denounce every content.

    Put the word into the body, and you’ll get teaching where the body is considered like a burden that we need to carry throughout life with a great deal of tolerance, despising and punishing it for its evil nature and also probably because of some mysterious original sin.

    Put the word into the mind, and you’ll get teaching where bloody intellectuals, run by their malevolent desire to get as much power as there is and control everybody and everything, are the cause of all suffering and hence should be hung on the tree of knowledge.

    Put the word into the ego, and you’ll get the well-known pessimism with all its self-contempt and nihilistic values, if the latter may be appropriately called so.

    Whatever doctrine you consider as a guideline for your lifelong journey, look very carefully at what it marks as evil and what it wants you to be scared of.

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