John Leslie Mackie, 1917 – 1981 CE, usually writing as J. L. Mackie, was an Australian philosopher. He made significant contributions to the philosophy of religion, metaphysics, and the philosophy of language, and is perhaps best known for
his views on meta-ethics
, especially his defense of moral scepticism.
Does Mackie believe in God?
The first thing to do, then, is to be clear on what this ‘problem of evil’ is, and why it shows that belief in God not only lacks rational support, but is also, in a very strong sense, irrational. Mackie states the problem as follows: “
God is omnipotent; God is wholly good; and yet evil exists
. … God is omnipotent.
Who is Mackie in philosophy?
| J. L. Mackie FBA | Institutions University of Otago University of Sydney University of York University College, Oxford | Academic advisors John Anderson | Main interests Metaphysics philosophy of language ethics moral nihilism | Notable ideas Argument from queerness |
|---|
How does Mackie define evil?
J. L. Mackie uses the
problem of evil to show that belief in an all good god is irrational
. Mackie argues that if an omnipotent and morally perfect god exists, why then is there so much evil in this world? He explains that the existence of evil is a direct contradiction of God being all good.
What is Mackie’s basic argument?
The so-called “argument from queerness” is one of two arguments
against the existence of objective values put forward
by J. L. Mackie in his Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong, the other being the “argument from relativity.” By the term “objective value,” Mackie primarily means moral goodness, rightness and wrongness, …
What did JL Mackie believe in?
Philosophical work
Mackie is best known for his contributions to
metaethics
, philosophy of religion, and metaphysics. In metaethics, he took a position called moral scepticism, arguing against the objective existence of right and wrong as intrinsically normative entities on fundamental grounds.
Is Mackie a utilitarian?
Is Mackie a utilitarian? “
No.
He discusses utilitarianism and some of its advantages, but ultimately rejects utilitarianism.”
Is God omnipotent paradox?
Likewise, God cannot make a being greater than himself because he is, by definition, the greatest possible being. God is limited in his actions to his nature. … If a being is accidentally omnipotent, it can resolve the paradox by
creating a stone it cannot lift
, thereby becoming non-omnipotent.
What is a Mackie?
Mackie. Mackie is a brand of the United States-
based company LOUD Technologies
. The Mackie brand is used on professional music and recording equipment, such as mixing consoles, loudspeakers, studio monitors and DAW control surfaces, digital recording equipment and more.
Was Mackie a nihilist?
According to the standard interpretation of Mackie, he holds that certain values would have to be objective to exist at all. objective values: … some non-moral values: aesthetic values, beauty, various kinds of artistic merit. So on this interpretation, Mackie
is a moral nihilist
.
How does Aquinas define motion?
Aquinas’s first demonstration of God’s existence is the argument from motion. He drew
from Aristotle’s observation that each thing in the universe that moves is moved by something else
. … If a being is capable of not existing, then there is a time at which it does not exist.
What is the free will defense in philosophy?
One argument, known as the free will defense,
claims that evil is caused not by God but by human beings, who must be allowed to choose evil if they are to have free will
. … Another argument, developed by the English philosopher Richard Swinburne, is that natural evils can be the means of learning and maturing.
What is the paradox of omnipotence Mackie?
Mackie’s paradox of omniscience can be regarded as
a separate argument against God’s existence
, which makes no immediate use of the existence of evil, but just tries to show that God’s omnipotence itself involves a contradiction.
Why is it called the inconsistent triad?
It is called the Inconsistent Triad because
it is comprised of three states of existence (making three corners of a triangle) that supposedly cannot co-exist
.
What are the three Theodicies?
Thomas Aquinas, the 13th-century Dominican theologian, and in the Theodicy (1710), by the German philosopher and mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. According to Leibniz, there are three forms of evil in the world:
moral, physical, and metaphysical
.
What is epistemological queerness?
In its epistemological aspect, the argument from queerness
asks how objective values could possibly be known
. Objective values are supposed to be intrinsically normative entities, irreducibly distinct from the natural entities in the causal nexus postulated by the descriptive natural sciences.
