{"product_id":"problem-of-evil-book-peter-van-inwagen-9780199543977","title":"The Problem of Evil","description":"It is generally supposed that the fact that the world contains a vast amount of suffering, much of it truly horrible suffering, confronts those who believe in an all-powerful and benevolent Creator with a serious problem: to explain why such a Creator would permit this. Many reflective people are convinced that the problem, the problem of evil, is insoluble. The reasons that underlie this conviction can be formulated as a powerful argument for the non-existence of God, the so-called argument from evil: If there were a God, he would not permit the existence of vast amounts of truly horrible suffering; since such suffering exists, there is no God. Peter van Inwagen examines this argument, which he regards as a paradigmatically philosophical argument. His conclusion is that (like most philosophical arguments) it is a failure. He seeks to demonstrate, not that God exists, but the fact that the world contains a vast amount of suffering does not show that God does not exist.  Along the way he discusses a wide range of topics of interest to philosophers and theologians, such as: the concept of God; what might be meant by describing a philosophical argument as a failure; the distinction between versions of the argument from evil that depend on the vast amount of evil in the world and versions of the argument that depend on a particular evil, such as the Lisbon earthquake or the death of a fawn in a forest fire; the free-will defense; animal suffering; and the problem of the hiddenness of God.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49568055558417,"sku":"GOR008314477","price":10.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51000116117777,"sku":"NIN9780199543977","price":44.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52615193461009,"sku":"NLS9780199543977","price":41.29,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53157267177745,"sku":"GOR008810910","price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0199543976.jpg?v=1750876413","url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/products\/problem-of-evil-book-peter-van-inwagen-9780199543977","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}