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Single Idea 2659

[filed under theme 29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 3. Problem of Evil / a. Problem of Evil ]

Full Idea

Time would fail me if I tried to list all the good men for whom things have turned out badly. So it would if I tried to mention all the wicked who have prospered.

Gist of Idea

The lists of good men who have suffered and bad men who have prospered are endless

Source

M. Tullius Cicero (On the Nature of the Gods ('De natura deorum') [c.44 BCE], III.80)

Book Ref

Cicero: 'The Nature of the Gods', ed/tr. McGregor,Horace [Penguin 1972], p.228


The 21 ideas with the same theme [reasons for the existence of evil]:

There must always be some force of evil ranged against good [Plato]
The lists of good men who have suffered and bad men who have prospered are endless [Cicero]
Irenaeus says evil is necessary for perfect human development [Irenaeus, by Davies,B]
God can do anything, but he cannot do evil, so evil must be nothing [Boethius]
If you could see the plan of Providence, you would not think there was evil anywhere [Boethius]
God does not exist, because He is infinite and good, and so no evil should be discoverable [Aquinas]
It is part of God's supreme goodness that He brings good even out of evil [Aquinas]
Evil is a negation of good, which arises from non-being [Leibniz]
God only made sin possible because a much greater good can be derived from it [Leibniz]
How can an all-good, wise and powerful being allow evil, sin and apparent injustice? [Leibniz]
Being confident of God's goodness, we disregard the apparent local evils in the visible world [Leibniz]
Particular evils are really good when linked to the whole system of beings [Berkeley]
The Creator created the possibilities for worlds, so should have made a better one than this possible [Schopenhauer]
Belief that an afterlife is required for justice is an admission that this life is very unjust [Mill]
Evil comes from good just as often as good comes from evil [Mill]
No necessity ties an omnipotent Creator, so he evidently wills human misery [Mill]
A combination of great power and goodness would mean the disastrous abolition of evil [Nietzsche]
Is evil an illusion, or a necessary contrast, or uncontrollable, or necessary for human free will? [Mackie, by PG]
The propositions that God is good and omnipotent, and that evil exists, are logically contradictory [Mackie, by PG]
There is a problem of evil only if you expect the world to be good [Williams,B]
Even non-theists can wonder what, if anything, makes the universe good [Cochrane]