Defeating the Evil-God Challenge

Why is belief in a maximally good god significantly more reasonable than belief in a maximally evil god? Defending the view that arguments from philosophical theology constitute a serious threat to the symmetry thesis, Jack Symes responds to and sets out a new solution to the evil-god challenge.

Symes argues it is more reasonable to attribute goodness to the concept of god than it is to attribute evil, and therefore, we have reason to favour belief in a good god over an evil god. To this end, he examines the concepts of good god and evil god through three lenses of philosophical theology: perfect-being theology, creation theology, and revelation theology. Drawing from a breadth of material including metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics, and epistemology, Symes develops a range of asymmetries that serve to undermine the symmetry thesis in favour of a good god.

A theologically and philosophically nuanced engagement with the evil-god problem, it is the first book-length treatment to showcase the ways it can not only be solved, but that the solution is simple, modest, and compelling.