PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION: A contemporary introduction

152 ARGUMENTS: MONOTHEISTIC CONCEPTIONS

know^39 that the context in which the evil occurred rules out R applying

or we know that R would apply only if sorts of things exist that we

know not to exist, it is reasonable to suspend judgment as to whether

there are actually pointless evils.

A reply to succinct Roweanism

Here is a brief argument in reply:

1 Roweanism is correct only if it is more rational to accept P1 than it is to
accept P2.
2 It is at least as rational to accept P2 as it is to accept P1.
3 If it is at least as rational to accept P2 as it is to accept P1 then it is not
more rational to accept P1 than it is to accept P2.
4 It is not more rational to accept P1 than it is to accept P2 (from 2, 3).
5 Succinct Roweanism is not correct.

If this argument succeeds, succinct Roweanism fails. The crucial premise is 2;
if it is true, then the rest of the argument is in order. Thus Roweanism
requires that 2 be false. But there seems to be no good reason provided for
thinking it false. So succinct Roweanism fails. (It is worth remarking here
that the same rules apply in arguing against a claim as apply in arguing for it.
The position offering the argument is supposed to provide the justifications.)

Evil and ecology

Most discussions of the problem of evil leave aside reference to such matters
as the disappearance of species. This is understandable – environmental
ethics is a complex and controversial field and any discussion of anything
relevant to it is bound to make controversial claims. So it is safer to avoid
such matters altogether unless one can devote an entire book to them.
Perhaps unwisely, I will not follow this practice here. While various claims
made may be even more controversial than philosophical claims usually
are,^40 perhaps what follows may at least elicit some careful reflection about
the alleged problem of ecological evil. (The use of “alleged” here is not
intended to deny that there is ecological evil, but to be neutral at the outset
as to whether the existence of such evil is evidence that God does not exist.)
Considering the problem of evil from a different angle may be helpful.
There are at least two sorts of consideration that relate evil and ecology. One
has to do with the suffering of non-human animals. The other is the