Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?
Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing?
Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing?
Then why is there evil in the world?
Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God?[1]
Other Greek nontheists came after Anaxagoras. The most famous of them -- the one credited with the riddle above -- was Epicurus (341-270 BCE).
It’s not clear how Epicurus got credit for talking about one god when the Greeks believed in many. But his riddle is crucial to atheism. It’s a chief example of what’s called “the argument from evil.”
That’s the claim that a god who allows evil can’t be both loving and all-powerful; therefore, the loving, all-powerful god that millions worship can’t be real. An offshoot of the riddle is an atheist viewpoint along the lines of “I can’t worship or even believe in a god who has the power to help everyone but won’t lift a cosmic pinky to do it.”
Epicurus was also one of the first people to write publicly that there’s no heaven, hell or any other kind of life after death, a central idea for many atheists. Death, he said, is nothingness: a complete lack of consciousness, awareness, or feeling. For that reason (among others), he encouraged people to enjoy life while they have it and stop worrying that a god might frown at their pleasures.
Unlike Anaxagoras, Epicurus was actually popular, with a following of admirers who spread his philosophy for centuries. Even now, you can find websites and books by people who admire him and try to live the Epicurean way. And religious people still say that the Epicurean way isn’t enough for a fulfilling life.
[1] David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1779), http://www.anselm.edu/homepage/dbanach/dnr.htm; and other sources.
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