The Complex Relationship Between Free Will, God, and Evil

This essay explores the philosophical problem of free will, God, and evil, examining arguments from philosophers like Mackie and Platinga. The core issue revolves around reconciling the existence of an omnipotent, omniscient, and morally good God with the presence of evil in the world. The essay discusses Mackie's argument that evil is logically incompatible with such a God, and that free will contributes to evil. It explores different solutions, including the idea that evil is a necessary contrast to good, and the concept of evil as a temporary divergence from good. The essay also delves into Platinga's perspective, which posits that God gave humans free will, and that evil is a consequence of this freedom, essential for moral choices. The essay further examines the implications of God's omniscience and the nature of free will, concluding that the existence of evil is a necessary component for free will to exist, and that God's goodness is not challenged by the existence of evil. It also highlights the subjective nature of good and evil, which depend on individual choices.

Running head: FREE WILL, GOD AND EVIL
FREE WILL, GOD AND EVIL
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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FREE WILL, GOD AND EVIL
The question of freewill and the existence of the open thinking has always plagued
philosophers since time immemorial. The idea of evil is one of the important tenets of the
philosophical thinking. The idea of good and evil in the and the existence of god is intertwined in
the philosophy of Mackie who chooses to explore the different aspects of the psyche of the
mankind in an attempt to understand the different situations of the existence of evil in the
society. In short the argument that Mackie puts forward is: Even the least of Evil cannot exist
in the presence of an omnipresent god who is good.
The simple solution that Mackie puts forward is that good and evil exist as the
comparison of each other and subjective perspectives and cannot exist in isolation. If there is no
evil one cannot decide that an action is good or not as there is no platform of comparison. The
freewill in the human kind is one of the reasons of the existence of the evil in the world. The
freewill to choose between the good and the evil blurs the line between the different ideals that
may arise in the favors of an omnipresent good as Mackie argues that if there is evil why not god
makes the people always choose the good which will be a better choice (Mackie, 1974). This
very choice or freedom of choosing in the form of freewill puts a very strong fallacy in the
ideology that if freewill allows a person to choose something evil how good can it be considered
and why is it even a choice which questions the existence of God. The existence of evil raises a
question on the omniscience of god where Mackie argues that if god knew that the people be
choosing evil than why is it so that god does not have a control over the choices.
The problem in the concept of the omniscience and the omnipresence of god in the
philosophy of Mackie is the fact that God in his true form is omniscient omnipresent and the
existence of evil. There are number of different solutions that exist to explain the logical fallacy
that exist in the statement that is forwarded. In this context it is to be considered that the presence

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of evil as the counterpart of evil to maintain a balance and demarcate a bifurcation between the
two by the will of an omnipresent god. On the other hand there exists a completely different
explanation of evil as the evil that exists is actually not evil but is perceived as evil by the people.
The term of evil has also been defined as the temporary divergence of good which helps in
explaining the omniscience and the omnipresence of god in the social context. It has also been
argued that the evil existence by the will of god to enhance the beauty of the good in the minds
of the people (Mackie, 1955). The presence of flaws to enhance the beauty of a thing is seen as
one of the important aspects of the theory of existence of evil.
In an argument to this thought Platinga argues that:
“ God is omniscient, omnipotent, and morally perfect; God has created the world; all evil in the
world is [the result of free actions by created creatures]; and there is no possible world God
could have created that contains a better balance of [moral good and evil]”
God is omniscient and omnipresent in the world and it is therefore poetic that that he
created the human with freewill as their strongest forte. The evil on the other hand is the creation
of the man as use of the freewill. God being morally just cannot be biased to a single ideology in
the creation and the freewill will have no importance as long as the choices to choose from does
not exist in the environment. It is also pointed out by Platinga that the existence of evil in the
world is the proof of the existence of freewill and the rejection of all the evil from the world will
be curbing the freewill that is presented to the people in the society (Platinga, 1999). The freewill
and the existence of it is justified by the existence of evil in the world as it is said by Platinga.
The curbing of the freewill will only lead to the overall ideological fallacy where the existence of
God can affect the choice of man. God being Omniscient can know what is there to know and

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what is happening in the present. If he knows what the future choice of the person will be and
bases the ideologies on it then the whole concept of free will be flawed.
Mackie on the other hand argues that:
“If there is no logical impossibility in a man’s freely choosing the good on one, or on several
occasions, then there cannot be a logical impossibility in his freely choosing the good on every
occasion”
In the statement he simply states that that if the person can choose good on one occasion
then they may as well choose the choice that is good on multiple occasions. Its is therefore one
of the strongest fallacies in religion that the freewill which allows a person to make choices or
gives them the freedom of identity may be subject to infinite fallacies like in the above
statement. It explains if a person always chooses to be good then how is it possible that the
person may not make any mistake then they cannot be said to be exercising their freewill. The
freewill and the choice is focused on the making of the choice of evil or the wrong decisions to
prove their existence in the human life puts them in a state of another indeterminacy (Mackie,
1965). The choice of evils existence for the presence of a complete freewill is one of the major
evidence of moral goodness of God. It is not possible for freewill to exist without the choice of
contrast and the existence of evil was therefore a necessity for the existence of freewill in man.
The freewill does not limit itself between the shades of black and white in the form of good and
evil in the society as the person with freewill also has the choice of choosing things in bits to
balance the choices in the society. One of the major issue in this case is that the freewill and the
choices has to focus on a number of different factors for the overall understanding of the choices.

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From the group discussion it can be argued that the existence of god and free will is
independent of each other and one does not need to prove the existence of each other. The
existence of free will is one of the main reasons of the existence of Evil in the society as the
existence of free will needs to contrasting ideologies to choose from and good and evil are those.
Is there is no option of choice then there is no need of Evil in the society and God being
Omniscient and omnipresent offers free will to the people by giving them this choice in the
presence of both the ideologies. The knowledge of good and evil and omniscience in god is
challenged in the philosophies but god is considered to be morally good and Omniscient so he
can also see that the free will cannot exist without being given a choice and there is a probability
that people may choose either and this very freedom of choice is their free will.
The existence of God cannot be challenged by the statement of existence of Evil and
while giving one of the most important choices to man god had to create Evil as a secondary
choice of good otherwise the existence of free will would have been a myth. The overall
existence of reason in the society is there because of the existence of Evil. It can also be said that
even itself is a result of the free will in the society as the people choose to diverge from the given
path if they had the choice and therefore created Evil on their own. The good and evil are
basically subjective and cannot be charged therefore she will depend from person to person. The
choice exist in different places based on individual choices depending on the thoughts of person
to person. Good and evil are also very subjective a good thing considered good at one placement
be considered even at another. Therefore free will is just a choice to choose good and evil on the
other hand are subjective effect is dependent on the situation.

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References
Mackie, J. L. (1955). Evil and omnipotence. Mind, 64(254), 200-212.
Mackie, J. L. (1974). The cement of the universe: A study of causation. Oxford University Press.
Mackie, J. L. (1965). Causes and conditions. American philosophical quarterly, 2(4), 245-264.
Platinga, A. (1999). An evolutionary argument against naturalism. Disputatio philosophica:
International journal on philosophy and religion, 1(1), 50-69.