Reference no: EM133404269
Question
1. Adams's proposed solution to the problem of evil is to set aside questions as to **why** God permits people to suffer horrendous evils with questions about **how** he might make it up to them. Why does urge setting aside the **why** question?
2. How, according to Adams, can God make it up to those that suffer horrendous evils?
3. Sutherland begins his paper with an excerpt from one of Tolstoy's letters. In it, Tolstoy recounts witnessing a public execution by beheading. What was his reaction to it?
4. How is what Tolstoy witnessed an example of a horrendous evil?
5. Tolstoy writes that there was nothing redeeming in the execution. It was in every way horrible. He writes, "when I saw the head part from the body and how it thumped in the box, I understood, not with the mind, but with my entire being, that no theory of reasonableness...could justify this deed, and even if everyone...held it to necessary, I knew it would be unnecessary and bad...". In other words, he was absolutely sure that what he witnessed was bad, and nothing anyone could say could change his mind.
How is Tolstoy's reaction to horrendous evil different from Adams's reaction?
6. One of Sutherland's objections to replacing the why question (i.e., why God allows people to suffer horrendous evil) is that, in doing so, we displace our moral sensibilities and the moral beliefs that gave form the question. For example, in replacing or ignoring why God allowed for the gruesome public execution, Adams is, in effect, asking Tolstoy to ignore or set aside his horror at what he witnessed. What, in your opinion, is the problem with asking Tolstoy to ignore or set aside his horror at having witnessed the public execution?
7. Another objection Sutherland raises against Adams is that the horrendous evil Tolstoy witnessed was perpetrated against someone else and not against him. How is this an objection to Adams's idea of defeating horrendous evil with transcendent goods?
8. Sum up, Sutherland's objection to Adams's proposed solution to the problem of horrendous evils.