Without Evil can there be Good

I remember this question posed to us in my Philosophy of Religion couse in school. From time to time I ponder this question. Is evil as necessity that will always exist? I ask this purely from a philosophical point of view.

 

I think this is a lot like the tree falling in the forest idea. Good would still exist but no one would notice. Good would cease to be good and simply become the way.

 

Sounds like paradise

 

Without the presence of evil, there is no choice. There is no true free will.

But here's a question -- what qualifies as 'the presence of evil'?

The Biblical picture of heaven is one where God's will is done all the time, and there is no sin -- no evil. No pain. No death.

So does that mean free will is gone as well? Or do we remember enough of evil to continually choose good?

 

I think an argument could be made that in most religions, this could already be the case. In other words, obedience isn't conditional based on whether or not the believers view the deity or the doctrine as "good". It's simply the way. It's our choice whether we want to follow that way or not.

 

Its hard to say. Satan certainly made a choice. I would imagine we could choose to leave heaven too.

 

i disagree. cant taste the sweet without the sour. if i win i married my girlfriend and won the lottery and had friends who loved me forever it would never be as good for me as for the man who was homeless, family was killed early, and was alone for his entire life. if you were born and everything was perfect you would never appreciate it. Thats just the way, it would be taken for granted like gravity. how often have you said thank you God for gravity? without it you die but you dont think like that...its just the way.

 

the intention of what I was saying was not "the way" in a religious sense but taken for granted such as people communicating through language and gravity. Think more "how things have always been"

 

i think in this arguement you presuppose that you cannot because that would be going against God which would be evil

 

But if you're aware enough to know that the absence of somethings (like gravity) is bad or harmful, is that enough to maintain knowing the difference? Of course it wouldn't be a full awareness, but isn't that limited awareness enough?

Think of young children. They experience joy daily without having knowledge of the horrors of 'real life' to contrast it against. In fact, I'd argue that children experience a higher level of 'good' because of their innocence.