The Frequentist Problem of Evil (Based on Wesley Salmon's interpretation)

Document Type : Original Research

Authors
Ghasem Purhasan 1
Ali Hatamian 2
1 Associate Professor at the Department of Philosophy, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran
2 PhD Student of Philosophy, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran
10.30497/prr.2016.1753
Abstract
The problem of evil is one of the most important topics in philosophy of religion. This article, based on original texts, analyses the frequency interpretation of probabilistic argument from evil and review some of its main critiques. This analysis based on the application of Bayes’ Theorem by Wesley Salmon. He uses the mathematical Probability to show that the possibility of the existence of God, based on the Bayes' theorem is little. He called his method as “empirical atheism”. In this kind of atheism, the denial of the possible intelligent agents and their role in the creation of the world is the main reason to reject an omnipotent and omniscience god. Bruce Reichenbach and Nancy Cartwright are among those who reject the Wesley Salmon’s ideas. Their critique includes the rejection of Salmon’s Probabilistic method and its atheistic results as well.
Keywords
God
Evil
Probability
Frequentist Interpretation
Bayes Theorem
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Philosophy of Religion Research
Volume 13, Issue 2 - Serial Number 2
November 2016
Pages 53-72