Mackie on the Problem of Evil, Essay Example

The problem that Mackie sees with belief in God is that although it is claimed that he is both omnipotent and good evil still exists in the world. Mackie makes the argument that the idea of evil cannot exist alongside this conception of God.  This is because the ideas of omnipotence, goodness, and the existence of evil, when put to logical analysis, cannot pass the test of validity that is put on it.

The first issue argument that Mackie addresses is the existence of evil as necessity.  The idea is that evil is necessary for good.  Without evil good could not exist.  This is predicated on the definition of omnipotence.  If a being had all power, then they should be able to overcome the trappings of logic.  The next issue he addresses concerns free will. The argument is that evil is necessary for free will.  In order for a choice to be good, then a bad option would have to be present as well.  Again, this relies on the definition of omnipotence.  If God were omnipotent then he should also have the ability to overcome this logical problem.

I disagree with Mackie’s position. Although these three key factors that he has presented, omnipotence, goodness, and evil, do not seem to be logically possible at the same time, I believe that the arguments given overcome this problem.  The given solutions to these problems fall short in convincing me that the logic is faulty.  It makes sense that evil would have to exist in order for good to exist and vice versa.