Defending the Free Will Defense: A Reply to Sterba

James Sterba has recently argued that the free will defense fails to explain the compossibility of a perfect God and the amount and degree of moral evil that we see. I think he is mistaken about this. I thus find myself in the awkward and unexpected position, as a non-theist myself, of defending the...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Luis R. G. Oliveira
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2022-11-01
Series:Religions
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/13/11/1126
Description
Summary:James Sterba has recently argued that the free will defense fails to explain the compossibility of a perfect God and the amount and degree of moral evil that we see. I think he is mistaken about this. I thus find myself in the awkward and unexpected position, as a non-theist myself, of defending the free will defense. In this paper, I will try to show that once we take care to focus on what the free will defense is trying to accomplish, and by what means it tries to do so, we will see that Sterba’s criticism of it misses the mark.
ISSN:2077-1444