Introduction
Initially, the problem of evil was tied to the syllogism that everything was created by God and since evil is a thing, therefore evil was also created by God. However, this approach to the problem of evil was devastating to Christians core belief of God being an omnibenevolent God. St. Augustine, therefore, sought to provide a solution to the problem and formulated an approach that prompted two syllogisms which stated that, according to the bible, all of Gods creation are good. Evil cannot be considered as good. Therefore, evil is not a part of God’s creation. The second syllogism was that God created everything except evil. Therefore, evil cannot be counted as one of the things created by God. St Augustine's notion revolves around the fact if God is all- powerful, all- knowing and omnibenevolent, then he is not responsible for the creation of evil. Therefore, in this paper, I will argue that St. Augustine adequately solves the problem of evil because he provides evidence to the effect that God is perfectly good and only creates good things hence he cannot have created evil which is a privation of good.
Explanation of Arguments
As all Christians, St. Augustine was greatly challenged by the fact that evil exists in the world. Living in an unstable Roman Empire that cost him the life of his mistress, his mother, and his son St. Augustine was prompted to ask himself why evil is in existence in the world and if God is omnibenevolent and all- knowing and powerful, then why does he allow evil to exist. To find a solution to these questions, St Augustine relied on Neoplatonism and Manicheanism philosophies from which all his ideas were shaped.
As a solution, St Augustine sought to provide evidence of the truth of his two syllogisms. According to him, if there is overwhelming evidence that proves that God is the creator of all things and He creates only good things, then the conclusion would ultimately be that evil cannot be a thing. If it is not a thing, then that propmts the question of what evil really is. St. Augustine asks the questions: "Where is evil then, and whence, and how crept it in hither? What is its root, and what its seed? Or hath it no being?" (St. Augustine, 2006, 107). After a lot of reflection and consideration, he comes upon the solution that the nature of evil is not favorable and the loss of that whic is favorable is what is referred to as ‘evil'. Hence, St. Augustine believed that the nature of evil resulted from the deprivation of good.
St. Augustine was of the opinion that it was the nature of evil to always injure those who came into contact with it. This injury in effect would likely bring about a deprivation of the favorable and good that is associated with all beings and with everything that is created by God. Hence, it was the nature of evil to cause deprivation. In effect, St. Augustine believed that injury would always be a consequent result of deprivation to which he remarked in his Confessions: "All which is corrupted is deprived of good" (St. Augustine, 2006, 193). In his opinion, if everything that God created was good, the deprivation of goodness from a thing would automatically result in the consideration of that thing as evil.
He describes evil as a cavity in goodness much like a shadow is created by a hole or cavity in light. A thing which is evil, in effect, lacks the aspect of being good or has a lower or lesser order or standard of goodness. Evil only exists within something which is good and is, therefore, more or less parasitic to good. Without good, evil would have no basis of existence. Just as ignorance comes about due to the rejection or avoidance of knowledge and not because it is actively sought out, is the same way evil comes about when good is deprived.
St. Augustine also considers another aspect of the problem of evil. In his opinion, if evil comes about due to the deprivation of good and is not actively sought out, then how does it occur? St. Augustine was of the opinion that a person was not capable of choosing evil. As earlier stated, God is omnibenevolent and everything created by him is good. In effect, everything is good and there are no evil things for which a person has the option to choose from. The act of turning away from what is good and choosing something lesser is what brought about evil in the world. The free will or ability of people to choose to do good or a minor good was the main origin of evil: "And I strained to perceive what I now heard, that free-will was the cause of our doing ill" (St. Augustine, 2006, 79).
According to St. Augustine, since everything was created by God, then he also created a free will. However, God created the free will in such a way that it is able to initiate acts. A free will, therefore, enables a man to perform acts that are his own and cannot be attributed to God or any other being. St Augustine writes: "No blame attaches to the Creator if any of his creatures does not do what he ought" (St. Augustine, 2006, 102). By this, he implies an autonomy in the free will given to man by God which connotes an authentic nature attached to the free will. Hence, according to St Augustine, God gave a man the freedom and choice to decide on the end result of his or her actions and the means to which that end result would be achieved.
Hence, free will allows a person to be the initiator or origin of an action that would result in evil. By his free will, a person can also choose the direction or the means by which his or her actions take. A person's use of free to choose an end that is contrary to justice and dignity would result in the perception of evil or evil intentions. Hence, St Augustine is of the opinion that the motivation of the will is the cause and origin of what we consider as evil.
Evaluation of Arguments
In effect, the evidence that St Augustine gives to solve the problem of evil are quite satisfactory and go along to prove that since God is omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent, then evil does not originate from him. Evil has its own separate origin. It is universally agreeable among those who believe in a higher being that God is omnibenevolent and devoid of evil. Everything that God does and creates is devoid of evil, even in the book of Genesis, after God had created the earth and everything in it, He would remark on the goodness of what He had created. Hence, one cannot make the assumption that evil originated from God. With this fact in mind, St Augustine embarks on a definition of the word ‘evil' to which he deduces that evil can only be a lack of good.
This deduction is quite accurate because the fact that God only creates good things and cannot create evil means that evil must have come about as a result of the misuse or wrongful use or application of something good. This is in line with St Augustine's arguments which provide the reasoning behind good and evil as the same with light and darkness. It is true that darkness only comes about due to the lack of light and therefore, the existence and presence of darkness is largely hinged on whether or not light exists. Likewise, evil can only exist when there is a lack of good.
This argument then prompts the question of the existence of evil and since St. Augustine insists that nothing evil can originate from God, yet everything originates from Him, then how does evil come about. He then argues about free will and how God gave men a free will which allows them to be the originator of actions and determine their means and end results.
Conclusion
St. Augustine is of the opinion that the problem of evil came about due to the free will of man and the actions he chooses to engage in as a consequence of that free will. God is not the originator of evil, man is. God in His perfect nature created man in such a way that man could make his own choices and choose his own actions and the directions to which those actions would take. Man's decision to do that which is contrary to the good that God had created and orchestrated results in evil and a corruption of the moral good that God had ordained and created.
References
St. Augustine. (2006). The Confessions of St. Augustine. Cosimo Classics, NY. ( Pages 107, 193, 79 and 102)
