What's wrong with Tooley's argument from evil

Michael Tooley has recently advanced a novel formulation of the problem of evil. The argument primarily intends to address sceptical theist responses to the problem of evil by giving a theoretical argument that prima facie evils are probably ultima facie evils. He thus argues from a single prima facie evil to the conclusion that God probably does not exist, before extending his argument to encompass many prima facie evils using Carnapian inductive logic. In this article I respond to Tooley's two arguments. I improve the first by clearing up some ambiguities, before noting a variety of problems. In particular, the fatal problem is that, contra Tooley, the occurrence of some event is in fact evidence that such an event is not in fact impermissible for God to allow. I then challenge Tooley's extension using Carnapian induction, offering a parody which suggests that Carnapian induction of this variety leads to manifestly absurd results

Argument (complex analysis) · Commit · Epistemology · Event (particle physics) · Physics · Prima facie · Problem of Evil · Skepticism · Theism · Variety (cybernetics) · Computer Science · Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs · Philosophy · Philosophy and Theoretical Science · Theology and Philosophy of Evil

• Calum Miller's attempted refutation of Michael Tooley's evidential argument from evil

  Open Access•Michael Tooley•Religious Studies•2023

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