Abstract
In this paper, I argue that there is a kind of evil, namely, the unequal distribution of natural endowments, or natural inequality, which presents theists with a new evidential (not logical or incompatibility) problem of evil. The problem of natural inequality is a new evidential problem of evil not only because, to the best of my knowledge, it has not yet been discussed in the literature, but also because available theodicies, such the free will defense and the soul-making defense, are not adequate responses in the face of this particular evil, or so I argue.
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Notes
According to Poston (2012, pp. 166–185), the natural/moral evil distinction goes back to Augustine.
See also van Inwagen (2006, p. 9) on natural or physical evil.
According to Lobo and Zhaurova (2008), “Every year, an estimated 7.9 million infants (6 % of worldwide births) are born with serious birth defects.”
According to the World Health Organization, seventy years was the average life expectancy at birth of the global population in 2011 (http://www.who.int/gho/mortality_burden_disease/life_tables/situation_trends/en/).
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Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Marcus Arvan, Elisa Freschi, Daniel Greco, David Morrow, and Walter Riker for helpful discussion. I am also grateful to an anonymous reviewer of Philosophia for helpful comments on earlier drafts.
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Mizrahi, M. The Problem of Natural Inequality: A New Problem of Evil. Philosophia 42, 127–136 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11406-013-9478-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11406-013-9478-6