The experience of evil and support for atheism

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this chapter, I put aside typical arguments from experienced evil to the belief that God does not exist. Instead, in the first section, my focus is on how experiences of evil provide epistemic support for atheism by analogy with the ways philosophers have claimed experiences allegedly of God provide support for theistic belief. In the second section, I will sketch other ways in which atheism gets support when a person experiences evil, ways not analogous to how philosophers have thought of theistic experience but yet not arguments from experience of evil.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Blackwell Companion to The Problem of Evil
Publisherwiley
Pages98-112
Number of pages15
ISBN (Electronic)9781118608005
ISBN (Print)9780470671849
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2014

Keywords

  • Acceptance
  • Alston
  • Direct support
  • Experience of evil
  • Mediated support
  • Noetic reconstruction
  • Plantinga
  • Swinburne
  • Value-attitude reformation

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Arts and Humanities

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