{"id":88,"date":"2006-10-05T18:43:44","date_gmt":"2006-10-05T18:43:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/summametaphysica.com\/ge\/40020-evil-and-necessity\/"},"modified":"2018-04-23T20:21:18","modified_gmt":"2018-04-23T20:21:18","slug":"40020-evil-and-necessity","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.summametaphysica.com\/ge\/40020-evil-and-necessity\/","title":{"rendered":"400.20 EVIL AND NECESSITY (pps.94-96)"},"content":{"rendered":"

hard cover page 94<\/p>\n

With the creation of potential for good, which is required for man to be able to reach his spiritual potential, potential for evil indirectly, but nevertheless, inexorably, came into existence as a consequence.<\/strong>355<\/sup><\/p>\n

He [God] creates evil only in so far as he produces the corporeal element [good and existence] such as it actually is; it is always connected with negatives, and is on that account the source of all destruction and all evil.
\n-Maimonides356<\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

===================================
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u201d\u00e2\u20ac\u201d\u00e2\u20ac\u201d\u00e2\u20ac\u201d\u00e2\u20ac\u201d\u00e2\u20ac\u201d- NOTES \u00e2\u20ac\u201d\u00e2\u20ac\u201d\u00e2\u20ac\u201d\u00e2\u20ac\u201d\u00e2\u20ac\u201d\u00e2\u20ac\u201d-<\/p>\n

355 <\/sup>See Stitskin, Eight Jewish Philosophers<\/em>, pp. 77-78 (in his chapter on Abraham Bar Hiyya). “There is ample evidence in Scripture that God is the cause of evil as well as good. . . .Justice denotes the good and evil distributed in this world according to the law ofjustice. Thus. God is the author of both good and evil in the world.”<\/p>\n

356 <\/sup>Maimonides, Guide<\/em> 3:10 (Dover ed., p. 266). The development by Maimonides in chapter 10 of the Guide<\/em> stresses that God directly creates only good, and only indirectly evil. It would seem to us that any differences between our position and Maimonides’ position on this point are primarily semantic ones. (We trust that the devotees of Maimonides now breathe easier.)<\/p>\n

~continued~
\n<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
CONVERSION TABLE for this multi-page unit<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
you are currently on hard cover p. 94
\n<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
< BACK<\/a><\/td>\n<\/td>\nNEXT PAGE><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\t\t\t\tPages pointer<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\nhard cover page<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1
\n2
\n3<\/td>\n		>
\n>
\n><\/td>\n		94
\n95
\n96<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

hard cover page 95<\/p>\n

I form the light, and create darkness;
\nI make peace, and create evil;
\nI am the Lord,
\nWho has made all these things.
\n-Isaiah 45:5<\/p>\n

There is no possible source of evil except good.
\n-Aquinas357<\/sup><\/p>\n

Evil has its source in the good.
\n-Augustine358<\/sup><\/p>\n

Without evil goodness would not be possible either.
\n-Berkovits359<\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Man cannot quest for spiritual heights unless there is intense good to use as a “spiritual ladder.” The creation of good, however, mandates the existence of its polarity, evil.360<\/sup><\/p>\n

Good and evil form a duality. Creating potential for good, by definition, creates the inverse potential for evil along with it.361<\/sup> Good only exists with its duality, evil. In order to create potential for good, potential for evil was, by definition, created.362<\/sup> God’s omnipotence or non-omnipotence is not the issue. It is rather a question of definition. By definition, good comes packaged with concomitant evil.363<\/sup><\/p>\n

Existence of potential for good –> Existence of potential for evil.
\nGod created potential for good.
\nTherefore: God created potential for evil.<\/em><\/p>\n

Evil exists not (a la the Irenaean and Augustinian theodicies) because God necessarily had a productive need for evil to exist. Rather, it was in the Divine\/cosmic interest for good to exist, and evil is the inevitable duality of good.364<\/sup> Evil exists because<\/p>\n

===================================
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u201d\u00e2\u20ac\u201d\u00e2\u20ac\u201d\u00e2\u20ac\u201d\u00e2\u20ac\u201d\u00e2\u20ac\u201d- NOTES \u00e2\u20ac\u201d\u00e2\u20ac\u201d\u00e2\u20ac\u201d\u00e2\u20ac\u201d\u00e2\u20ac\u201d\u00e2\u20ac\u201d-<\/p>\n

357 <\/sup>Aquinas, Summa Theologiae<\/em>, I, q. 49, a. 1.<\/p>\n

358 <\/sup>Augustine, “The Problem of Evil,” in Hick, Readings in the Philosophy of Religion<\/em>, p. 21.<\/p>\n

359 <\/sup>See Berkovits, God, Man and History, <\/em>p. 78. “It is a commonplace by now to say that without evil goodness would not be possible either. In a world without temptation, man could never be holy. . .. Without the forever-lurking inclination to selfishness and discord, there can be no ethical ideal and practice.”<\/p>\n

360 <\/sup>See Schulweis, Evil and the Morality of God<\/em>, p. 47. “Without good, evil could not exist; without evil, goodness would be impoverished. Paradoxically, if there is evil, there is God. Leibniz echoes this logic in his declaration that to permit the evil, as God permits it, proves to be the greatest goodness” (Leibniz, Theodicy, pt. 11, par. 121).<\/p>\n

361 <\/sup>See Hick, Evil and the God of Love<\/em>, p. 368. “. . . not only may it not be possible for God to create a world including freedom but no evil, but it may also not be possible for him to create a world containing freedom and containing less evil than the existing world.”<\/p>\n

362 <\/sup>See Heschel, God in Search of Man,<\/em> p. 377. “If not for the will of God, there would be no goodness; if not for the freedom of man, goodness would be out of place in history.”<\/p>\n

363 <\/sup>See also Teilhard de Chardin, The Future of Man,<\/em> p. 93. “Evil . . .the inevitable reverse side-or better, the condition~or better still, the price-of an immense triumph.”<\/p>\n

364 <\/sup>“Why has God created both wicked and good? So that the one should atone for the other.” Pesikta Rabbati 201 a ink., as cited in Montefiore and Loewe, A Rabbinic Anthology<\/em>, p. 542. . Schulweis’s paraphrase of T. B. Yoma 6911 in Evil and The Morality of God,<\/em> p. 137.<\/p>\n

~continued~
\n<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
CONVERSION TABLE for this multi-page unit<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
you are currently on hard cover p. 95
\n<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
< BACK<\/a><\/td>\n<\/td>\nNEXT PAGE><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\t\t\t\tPages pointer<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\nhard cover page<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1
\n2
\n3<\/td>\n		>
\n>
\n><\/td>\n		94
\n95
\n96<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

hard cover page 96<\/p>\n

dualities are inherent in the universe. In a world of active Divine intervention, gross evil is held at bay by the omnipotent intervening Divinity. In a world of lesser intervention, as in a world where the Divine is in a state of greater contraction of here-and-now omniscience, evil gains power.<\/p>\n

In a world where mortals lower their “moral guard,” evil has a chance to achieve “critical mass” and emerge with increased destructiveness.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
CONVERSION TABLE for this multi-page unit<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
you are currently on hard cover p. 96
\n<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
< BACK<\/a><\/td>\n<\/td>\nNEXT PAGE><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\t\t\t\tPages pointer<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\nhard cover page<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1
\n2
\n3<\/td>\n		>
\n>
\n><\/td>\n		94
\n95
\n96<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

hard cover page 94 With the creation of potential for good, which is required for man to be able to reach his spiritual potential, potential for evil indirectly, but nevertheless, inexorably, came into existence as a consequence.355 He [God] creates evil only in so far as he produces the corporeal element [good and existence] such […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"yoast_head":"\n400.20 EVIL AND NECESSITY (pps.94-96) - David Birnbaum Summa Metaphysica I<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.summametaphysica.com\/ge\/40020-evil-and-necessity\/\" \/>\n<link rel=\"next\" href=\"https:\/\/www.summametaphysica.com\/ge\/40020-evil-and-necessity\/2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"400.20 EVIL AND NECESSITY (pps.94-96) - David Birnbaum Summa Metaphysica I\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"hard cover page 94 With the creation of potential for good, which is required for man to be able to reach his spiritual potential, potential for evil indirectly, but nevertheless, inexorably, came into existence as a consequence.355 He [God] creates evil only in so far as he produces the corporeal element [good and existence] such […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.summametaphysica.com\/ge\/40020-evil-and-necessity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"David Birnbaum Summa Metaphysica I\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-04-23T20:21:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.summametaphysica.com\/ge\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.summametaphysica.com\/ge\/\",\"name\":\"David Birnbaum Summa Metaphysica I\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.summametaphysica.com\/ge\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.summametaphysica.com\/ge\/40020-evil-and-necessity\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.summametaphysica.com\/ge\/40020-evil-and-necessity\/\",\"name\":\"400.20 EVIL AND NECESSITY (pps.94-96) - David Birnbaum Summa Metaphysica I\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.summametaphysica.com\/ge\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2006-10-05T18:43:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-04-23T20:21:18+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.summametaphysica.com\/ge\/40020-evil-and-necessity\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.summametaphysica.com\/ge\/40020-evil-and-necessity\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.summametaphysica.com\/ge\/40020-evil-and-necessity\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\"}]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"400.20 EVIL AND NECESSITY (pps.94-96) - David Birnbaum Summa Metaphysica I","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.summametaphysica.com\/ge\/40020-evil-and-necessity\/","next":"https:\/\/www.summametaphysica.com\/ge\/40020-evil-and-necessity\/2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"400.20 EVIL AND NECESSITY (pps.94-96) - David Birnbaum Summa Metaphysica I","og_description":"hard cover page 94 With the creation of potential for good, which is required for man to be able to reach his spiritual potential, potential for evil indirectly, but nevertheless, inexorably, came into existence as a consequence.355 He [God] creates evil only in so far as he produces the corporeal element [good and existence] such […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.summametaphysica.com\/ge\/40020-evil-and-necessity\/","og_site_name":"David Birnbaum Summa Metaphysica I","article_modified_time":"2018-04-23T20:21:18+00:00","twitter_card":"summary","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.summametaphysica.com\/ge\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.summametaphysica.com\/ge\/","name":"David Birnbaum Summa Metaphysica I","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.summametaphysica.com\/ge\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.summametaphysica.com\/ge\/40020-evil-and-necessity\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.summametaphysica.com\/ge\/40020-evil-and-necessity\/","name":"400.20 EVIL AND NECESSITY (pps.94-96) - David Birnbaum Summa Metaphysica I","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.summametaphysica.com\/ge\/#website"},"datePublished":"2006-10-05T18:43:44+00:00","dateModified":"2018-04-23T20:21:18+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.summametaphysica.com\/ge\/40020-evil-and-necessity\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.summametaphysica.com\/ge\/40020-evil-and-necessity\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.summametaphysica.com\/ge\/40020-evil-and-necessity\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home"}]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.summametaphysica.com\/ge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/88"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.summametaphysica.com\/ge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.summametaphysica.com\/ge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.summametaphysica.com\/ge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.summametaphysica.com\/ge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.summametaphysica.com\/ge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/88\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":254,"href":"https:\/\/www.summametaphysica.com\/ge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/88\/revisions\/254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.summametaphysica.com\/ge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}