...A Problem Exists William Baughan Prof Valentine ENG 215 11/5/2013 A Problem Exists The liberals in our political system have always tried to get rid of guns that they are a danger to us as a society and the conservatives and libertarians follow the Second Amendment of our Constitution. The Second Amendment gives us the right to keep and bear arms as well as protection from others. I believe citizens should be permitted to carry concealed weapons in their workplaces, such as schools and offices, which would deter criminals, increase security, and create an atmosphere of safety. Homicides by weapon type, 1976-2004. Gun-involved homicides have increased since falling to a low in 1999. Homicides by weapon type, 1976-2004. Gun-involved homicides have increased since falling to a low in 1999. (Berry, 2013)First, gun violence has been a topic of conversation in the political arena for a long time. The most common gun violence as well as violence by itself occurs in poor urban areas usually associated with gang violence. There has been a lot of school shooting such as the Virginia Tech shootings and Columbine high school massacre. It’s almost like clockwork when mass shootings occur there will be a debate on gun laws. Politicians have sought for the correct balance between what regulations to add and what not to add. Second, there has been an increase number of violence in schools that usually involve guns. Every day you turn on the news or read...
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...Running head: A PROBLEM EXISTS Should the U.S. require all S.S. recipients to have their checks delivered to a bank account rather than by mail? Ada L. Smith Professor McCurdy ENG215 November 11, 2013 The United States government should all require Social Security recipients to receive their checks electronically through a bank account rather than through mail delivery. Approximately 93 percent of S.S. recipients receive their Social Security benefit payments electronically (ssa.gov, 2013). One reason Social Security checks should be delivered electronically to a bank account rather than using mail is it will be beneficial for the government and citizens of the United States financially. According to U.S. Treasurer Rosie Rios, the cost to print a paper check is approximately 92 cents more than by direct deposit (U.S. Treasury, 2013). Eliminating the printing and postage costs of paper checks is estimated to save the federal government and the Social Security trust fund $125 million per year (U.S. Treasury, 2013). Retiring the paper check form of receiving Social Security funds will be the right thing to do for American taxpayers and benefit recipient. This would also be beneficial in increasing security of the United States citizens through the reduction of identity theft and fraud. While starting the process of direct deposit may be a bit of a hassle, it will decrease government cost and spending, reduce risk, increase efficiency, improve transparency...
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...The Problem of Evil William Lane Craig Examines both the logical and probabilistic arguments against God from suffering and evil. The problem of evil is certainly the greatest obstacle to belief in the existence of God. When I ponder both the extent and depth of suffering in the world, whether due to man’s inhumanity to man or to natural disasters, then I must confess that I find it hard to believe that God exists. No doubt many of you have felt the same way. Perhaps we should all become atheists. But that’s a pretty big step to take. How can we be sure that God does not exist? Perhaps there’s a reason why God permits all the evil in the world. Perhaps it somehow all fits into the grand scheme of things, which we can only dimly discern, if at all. How do we know? As a Christian theist, I’m persuaded that the problem of evil, terrible as it is, does not in the end constitute a disproof of the existence of God. On the contrary, in fact, I think that Christian theism is man’s last best hope of solving the problem of evil. In order to explain why I feel this way, it will be helpful to draw some distinctions to keep our thinking clear. First, we must distinguish between the intellectual problem of evil and the emotional problem of evil. The intellectual problem of evil concerns how to give a rational explanation of how God and evil can co-exist. The emotional problem of evil concerns how to dissolve people’s emotional dislike of a God who would permit suffering. Now...
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...My essay will summarize the problem of evil and analytically assess how it is that evil weakens the traditional characteristics of God. I will attempt to explain how the existence of evil challenges the traditional characteristics of God such as omniscience, omnipresence and omnipotence and Omni benevolence using Hume’s famous quote, “Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then is he impotent. Is he able but not willing? Then is he malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Whence then is evil?” (Hume) The theological and metaphysical problem of evil was formulated in 1779 by David Hume in his work “Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion” where he asked the question, if God is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent and omnibenevolent then why does evil exist (Sherry)? The problem of evil causes us to look at the traditional characteristics of God and to analytically assess our suppositions about evil itself. If our God is a good, all powerful and just God as many people believe, then why would such a God allow evil to exist? This problem also brings to light questions about what is considered to be evil, whether it is moral evil committed by man or natural evil such as earthquakes, hurricanes and famine (Sherry). There are several arguments that have developed in reaction to the problem of evil that was suggested by David Hume. One such argument which is known as the free will defense claims that evil is solely caused by human beings, who must have the opportunity...
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...perspectives. Mind-Body Questions Paper The mind-body question has been a source of examination for many years. This examination began in the seventeenth-century with the French philosopher Descartes. Many credit Descartes with beginning the mind-body problem. The mind-body question in essence deals with how the physical world interacts and relates to the mental aspects of the mind. Descartes considered that the mind existed only in the mental state with the body existing only in the physical state. He felt that the mind could not exist with the body (Schimmel, 2001). Many others have formed various opinions, including John Searle, which emphasizes consciousness when discussing the mind. This essay is a discussion of the difficulty poised by the mind-body question on philosophical and scientific inquiry. The essay will also include the perspective of Searle concerning the mind-body question and reality. It will also include a personal view of the mind-body question and the perception of reality. What is the mind-body question that has seemed so troublesome in philosophical and scientific inquiry? The mind-body question has posed a problem for philosophers and scientists for many years. One reason the problem exists is that humans want to include all aspects of mental functions in a neat...
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...The most weighty of the arguments against God’s existence is the problem of evil. Of all the atheistic arguments, this is the one that has been around for longest, that has had the most words written about it, and that draws the most diverse responses from Christians. In brief, the problem is this: The traditional conception of God is as omniscient (all-knowing), omnipotent (all-powerful), and benevolent. This implies that if God exists then he knows how to, wants to, and is able to prevent all suffering. If such a God existed, though, then he actually would prevent all suffering. Suffering, though, is a familiar part of the world around us; it has not been prevented. There is, therefore, no omniscient, omnipotent, and benevolent God. There are many different responses to the problem of evil. None of them is entirely satisfactory alone, but together they do cast doubt on whether the existence of evil disproves the claim that God exists. The first response to the problem of evil is the free-will defense. Much of the evil in the world occurs only because we choose to create it. The greatest evils in the world are those inflicted by man upon man. In making the world, God faced a choice: he could create free agents like us, or he could create automata, robots, without the ability to make choices of their own. God chose to create free agents, and he made the right choice; a world containing free agents is clearly more valuable than a world of robots. The pay-off...
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...prisoners by trained or forced marches in order to avoid the Allied liberation of big numbers of prisoners. As allied forces transitioned across Europe in a series of offensives against Germany, they began to experience and setting free concentration camp prisoners. On May 7,1945, the day the Geramy armed forces had surrendered unconditionally to the allied forces and the marches ended on that day too. (Holocaust Encyclopedia, 2015) In the philosophy of religion, the problem of evil is the question of how to reconcile the existence of evil with that of God who is all powerful, all knowing and all good. An argument from evil attempts to show that the co existence of God is more than unlikely and attempts to show contraction which is know as Theodicy.(Tooley, 2015). Jews views Nazi’s regime as a great evil and Adolf doesn't have the right to murders jew as they are viewed as inferior beings in the Nazi. Jews interpret these happenings are just not possible, but given their worldview which includes belief that God exist, they are...
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...Arvin D. Medlock Jr. PHIL 201-DO2 Professor R.D. Kuykendall 5 May 3, 2015 McCloskey Response Paper “On Being an Atheist” Does God Exist? That is the question we face! For many years Theists and Atheist have debated this question for many years along with their central views and beliefs that we as human being rely on as it relates to Life and God. The Point of views and debates center around the Cosmological Argument, the Teleological argument (argument from Design) and the most debated argument as it relates to this topic called the Problem with evil? When questioning wither or not God Exist these traditional arguments play significant roles in investigating and proving or discrediting someone’s view or stance on this specific Philosophical belief. As you read McCloskey article “On Being an Atheist” he argues the Theist stance who believe in the Existence of God from the perspective view of an Atheist. McCloskey in writing this Article is not trying to discredit their belief in the Existence of God, but to raise questions, doubts and uncertainties concerning their arguments on which they stand on to prove their belief by ultimately concluding that the Theist arguments are not valid and should be disregarded as evidence to prove their belief in the existence of God. The problem with McCloskey argument against the argument of Theistic View is the Theist argument is not to literally prove their belief concretely on the existence of God, but there view is design to give...
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...In metaphysics, there have been countless arguments to prove the existence, or absence, of certain kinds of things, such as universals. There have been several attempts find a solution to the problem of universals, an unresolved issue which revolves around the question of whether or not universals actually exist, and if so, which particular form they take. Though there are many possible solutions to this question, in modern metaphysics one of the most popular stances on the issue is Realism, which can be further boiled down into two popular schools of thought, Aristotelian realism and Platonic realism. Although both forms of realism agree that universals are actual entities, they are distinguished by their contradictory views on the independence of universals. Aristotelian realism asserts that universals exist exclusively as properties instantiated by particulars, while Platonic realism suggests that universals can exist as entities separate of their particulars. However, with regards to the problem of universals, this distinction is negligible because both forms of realism use the same essential logic to attempt to prove the existence of universals. Realism hinges upon the idea that in order for certain phrases and ideas to be true, universals must be considered distinct entities. For example, consider the statement “the sky is blue.” There is a known entity, the sky, that, in all senses of the word, can be accurately described as being blue. This much is indisputably true. But...
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...use the argument known as the Problem of Evil. The argument focuses on the theory that if there is a God that exists that is omnipotent, meaning all powerful, omniscient, meaning all knowing, perfectly good, and capable of everything, then the concept of evil should not exist. The problem is, our world is plagued with forces that do us harm, whether it be due to human fault, intentional or accidental, or nature, these events cause humans to suffer. If these things exist, then that would mean that there couldn’t be a God, because someone that is all powerful and perfectly good would not allow evil to exist. The Problem of Evil has been discussed by many philosophers for a while, and there are some that argue that there is more to the Problem of Evil. A theodicy is a philosopher’s attempt to answer the question of why God, who is supposedly all powerful and perfectly good, allows the manifestation of evil. Philosophers typically try to solve this problem by reconciling the traits that are associated with God, with the occurrence of evil in the world. The first theodicy, which is known as the Augustinian theodicy, is based on the writings of Augustine of Hippo, who was a Christian philosopher. He argues that the problem isn’t with God, but lies within the people that inhabit the planet. He claims that in the beginning, God created a perfect world where no evil or suffering existed, and that due to the disobedience of Adam and Eve that evil exists as a punishment for their sins...
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...(2012), the problem of evil states that if God exists and he is omnibenevolent and omnipotent, he would eliminate all evil from the world. However, since evil obviously exists, as we see people suffering and bad things happening everyday, if God existed, and he was all-knowing and all-powerful there would be no evil in the world (Robbins, 2012). Mackie presents several solutions to the problem of evil that he deems fallacious. I will argue that "Good cannot exist without evil" and "Evil is due to human free will" are in fact adequate solutions to the problem of evil. Mackie (1955), defines God as an omnipotent and omnibenevolent being, meaning God is all-knowing and all-good, and should be able to eliminate all evil from the world, and yet evil exists all around us. Mackie (1955), defines evil as needless suffering. There is human evil, something done by people, to people and natural evil, like natural disasters. The first fallacious solution Mackie (1955), presents is "Good cannot exist without evil." 1. If God is omnipotent, he would be powerful enough to stop all evil. 2. Evil exists. Therefore, God is not omnipotent, or there are limits on God's omnipotence. The first premise states that if God were in fact omnipotent or all-powerful, then he should RESPONSE TO FALLACIOUS SOLUTIONS 2 be able to eliminate any evil in the world without any problem. The second premise simply states that evil exists, which we...
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...(2012), the problem of evil states that if God exists and he is omnibenevolent and omnipotent, he would eliminate all evil from the world. However, since evil obviously exists, as we see people suffering and bad things happening everyday, if God existed, and he was all-knowing and all-powerful there would be no evil in the world (Robbins, 2012). Mackie presents several solutions to the problem of evil that he deems fallacious. I will argue that "Good cannot exist without evil" and "Evil is due to human free will" are in fact adequate solutions to the problem of evil. Mackie (1955), defines God as an omnipotent and omnibenevolent being, meaning God is all-knowing and all-good, and should be able to eliminate all evil from the world, and yet evil exists all around us. Mackie (1955), defines evil as needless suffering. There is human evil, something done by people, to people and natural evil, like natural disasters. The first fallacious solution Mackie (1955), presents is "Good cannot exist without evil." 1. If God is omnipotent, he would be powerful enough to stop all evil. 2. Evil exists. Therefore, God is not omnipotent, or there are limits on God's omnipotence. The first premise states that if God were in fact omnipotent or all-powerful, then he should RESPONSE TO FALLACIOUS SOLUTIONS 2 be able to eliminate any evil in the world without any problem. The second premise simply states that evil exists, which we...
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...Knowledge Problems of Epistemology The first philosophical problem confronted by Augustine after his conversion was the problem of knowledge in a twofold perspective. * Whether we know the truth. * How we know the truth. The first response to the first problem is a severe critique of skepticism. His response to the second problem is the doctrine of illumination, which substituted the platonic doctrine of the reminiscence and which the Aristotelian doctrine of abstraction. A. CRITIQUE OF SCEPTICISM: MAN KNOWS TRUTH * Augustine shows that man can know the truths with firmness, such as his principle of non contradiction and of course his own existence. No one can doubt his own existence, because the doubt itself is the proof of existence. Meaning how a person will doubt something that doesn’t exist, everything that is doubted it is existing. When one doubted something meaning he doubts an existing object. * “I am most certain” St. Augustine states, “of my being, knowing and loving; nor do I fear the arguments against these truths of the academics, who say, ‘and what you deceive yourself ‘if I deceive myself that means that I am, I exist. Certainly he who does not exist cannot deceive himself; if I deceive myself then through this very fact I am. Since I exist, from the moment in which I deceive myself, how can I deceive myself about my being when I am certain that I am, through the fact itself that I deceive myself? Therefore, if would exist, I who...
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...The main big issue which occurs in problem of evil is that how God and evil can exists together, for instance if God exists, then there should be the prevention of evil, and if evil exists in the world that shows that God does not exist. This problem is logically explained by the Augustine in this paragraph. All powerful, all knowing and perfectly nice God would not allow any evil or suffering in the world. Augustine considers God as “completely innocent of evil”, the almighty all powerful God all good wouldn’t create anything evil or do anything evil. Evil is although a corruption in the good created by the God. It is not anything that God created by itself but it is the beings who did corruption in the good, which leads that to evil. Evil and bad deeds...
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...Proving the existence of God is a confounding problem that has captured the interest of people for many centuries. From the point of view of human suffering, it is possible to argue that the existence of evil and suffering in the world is a basis to challenge the existence of God Johnson explains this problem using the example of a six month old infant who perishes in an inferno. “Can we consider anyone as good who had the power to save this infant from painful death and did not” (Johnson, p.1). According to the arguments put forward by atheists, the existence of God is not compatible with the existence of evil. The existence of God would require that evil would not exist in the world. Therefore, conversely, since evil exists and leads to Human...
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