Providence and the Problem of Evil

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Summary: swinburne on evil
Review: In Providence and the Problem of Evil, Swinburne finally gives us a full-length treatment of evil. Swinburne presents us with an explanation of evil that focuses not just on our free will, but on the importance of mutual responsibility as a prerequisite of free will. Admirably, Swinburne attempts to integrate an account of natural evil into his account of moral evil. Natural evil is ultimately the result of a law-governed world, again a prerequisite for significant free will. Despite the usual intellectual rigor and vivacity of his work, there are some problems which Swinburne has left unresolved. First, his account of evil often falls flat in the face of concrete evil, requiring that we see such things as childhood cancer as a good thing because of the opportunities it affords us to be caring. It rings especially hollow in the face of tremendous evil like the Holocaust. Second, Swinburne does not fully treat a problem raised by J.L. Mackie some 30 years ago--that every opportunity for higher-order good (such as caring, sympathy and the like) are also opportunities for higher-order evil. Lastly, Swinburne never takes seriously the fact that his treatment of natural evil is really no more than the atheist has to say about the issue with the further complication of God and free will being added to the picture. As Swinburne himself in his other works focuses on simplicity as the be-all and end-all of explanation, this lacuna is greatly regrettable. However, despite its problems, Swinburne's book is an excellent attempt to grapple with a serious issue, and thus is time well spent.