Reading questions mackie, evil and omnipotence” 1. what t

1. Reading Questions: Mackie, “Evil and Omnipotence”
1. What “telling criticism” does Mackie want to make of theism
by way of the traditional problem of evil? That is, what does he
think he can show about religious beliefs based on the problem
of evil?
2. Mackie’s problem of evil is a problem for the person who
holds to a particular conception of God. What conception of
God is that? (Hint: what two features is this God supposed to
have?)
3. What is the problem in its simplest form?
4. What additional premises or “quasi-logical rules” does
Mackie suggest to show that a contradiction arises from belief
in God?
5. What are the adequate solutions to the problem of evil that
Mackie identifies? What are the fallacious solutions?
Mind Association
Evil and Omnipotence
Author(s): J. L. Mackie
Source: Mind, New Series, Vol. 64, No. 254 (Apr., 1955), pp.
200-212
Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the Mind
Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2251467
Accessed: 17/09/2009 20:38

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3. Article Contentsp. 200p. 201p. 202p. 203p. 204p. 205p. 206p.
207p. 208p. 209p. 210p. 211p. 212Issue Table of ContentsMind,
New Series, Vol. 64, No. 254 (Apr., 1955), pp. 145-288Front
MatterOn Frege's Way Out [pp. 145 - 159]Explanations in
History and the Genetic Sciences [pp. 160 - 180]Discursive and
Presentational Symbols [pp. 181 - 199]Evil and Omnipotence
[pp. 200 - 212]How Important is Moral Goodness? [pp. 213 -
225]On Formalization [pp. 226 - 238]DiscussionsSpatialising
Time [pp. 239 - 241]"Good" and "Right", and "Probable" in
Language, Truth and Logic [pp. 242 - 246]Note on
Wittgenstein's Manchester Period [pp. 247 - 248]Mr. Basson on
Immortality [pp. 249 - 253]Professor Quine on Analyticity [pp.
254 - 258]Tractatus 3.1432 [pp. 259 - 260]Images as Things
and Things as Imaged [pp. 261 - 263]Two Corrections:

4. Wittgenstein's Lectures in 1930-33 [p. 264]New Books [pp.
265 - 286]Notes [pp. 287 - 288]Back Matter