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Voltaire's Problem Of Evil

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The “problem of evil” has been discussed for multiple decades. Philosophers, religious believers, theologists, and many other professions and people struggle to perfectly answer this question. After reading Voltaire’s Candide as well as researching multiple viewpoints on this “problem of evil,” I personally do not believe in any co-existence between God and evil and conclude that justice, rather than evil, stems from our (human’s) genes. Voltaire’s view on evil comes from not only humans, but also nature. He includes multiple sources of evil in Candide, ranging anywhere from the Lisbon earthquake to rape or murder from man-to-man. From a religious standpoint, he mocks that if God does exist, then why does He let people suffer so much? After …show more content…

Psychologists continue to analyze if good and evil stems from human genes. In an episode of 60 Minutes, Yale psychologist Karen Wynn conducted an experiment where five-month-olds watched a puppet show that displayed nice and mean behavior. After the shows, the children chose which stuffed animal they wanted. This experiment produced results that babies preferred nice people opposed to mean ones. Another of her studies showed a mean bunny in one scene, and the next scene displayed that same bunny struggling then receiving nice and bad behavior from two different dogs. When asked about which dog they liked, 81% of the infants chose the bad dog. Wynn said inherently, human beings show a preference for nice people over mean people as shown in the first experiment. She also stated, following the second experiment, that humans also are “born with an innate sense of justice” (“Born Good? Babies Help Unlock the Origins of Morality”). Paul Bloom, Wynn’s husband and also an Yale psychologist, as well said, “There’s a universal moral core that all humans share. The seeds of our understanding of justice, our understanding of right and wrong, are part of our biological nature” (“Born Good? Babies Help Unlock the Origins of Morality”). Another view may stem from religious roots. Christianity’s standard religious beliefs play a large role in trying to answer the “problem of evil.” Focus on the Family, a global Christian website dedicated to helping families thrive according to biblical principles, argues against Voltaire’s beliefs that if evil exists, then God cannot. The site questions them by asking, “If there is some moral standard the critic is basing their position on, the the problem of evil becomes an argument for no against the reality of God. After all, in order to call something good or evil, there must be an underlying standard of right and wrong...we have no real basis for calling anything good or evil”

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