Evil and Many Worlds: A Free-Will Theodicy

by William Hunt

Overview

In Evil and Many Worlds: A Free-Will Theodicy, William Hunt presents a unique approach to explaining how God and evil can coexist despite the abundance of moral and natural evils blighting our world, which imply that an omnibenevolent God is unlikely to exist. This theodicy is based upon Huw Everett III's many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, whereby reality is not what it intuitively seems; instead, it is a multiverse comprising a vast number of universes, and we simultaneously exist in many of them. This multiplicity of existence results in a balance of moral good and evil across the multiverse, and through this, the expression of free will—an attribute valued by both persons and God— flourishes. The theodicy explains the coexistence of God and natural evil through the necessity of an evolutionary process that ensures the emergence of free-willed persons. Notwithstanding this universal perspective of Creation, a resurrection possibility would mitigate individual suffering resulting from this divine holistic strategy. Hunt examines this possibility in light of the many-worlds interpretation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781793634306
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	05/25/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	228
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

William Hunt is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a member of the British Society for the Philosophy of Religion and the institute of philosophy at the University of London.

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction

PART I: The Composition of Reality: Hidden Worlds

Chapter 1: Quantum Mechanics

Chapter 2: The Many-Worlds Interpretation

Chapter 3: The Quantum Multiverse

PART 2: The Problem of Evil: Defense

Chapter 4: Deductive Arguments

Chapter 5: Inductive and Abductive Arguments

Chapter 6: Bayesian Arguments

PART 3: A Free Will Theodicy: An Exordium

Chapter 7: Alternative Theodicies

Chapter 8: The Ethical Perspective

Chapter 9: Free Will

PART 4: A Free-Will Theodicy: Evil and Many Worlds

Chapter 10: Moral Evil and the Quantum Multiverse

Chapter 11: Natural Evil and the Quantum Multiverse

Chapter 12: Resurrection and the Quantum Multiverse

Conclusion

Appendix 1 : Probability Theory

Appendix 2 : Is God a Rule-consequentialist?: Bayesian and Total Probability Arguments

Appendix 3: Propositional Logic: Notation and Rules

Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

"William Hunt has done a superb job of developing the free will theory of David Deutsch (Fabric of Reality, 1997), and my own solution to the Problem of Evil (Physics of Christianity, 2007). I think the fact that Deutsch's free will theory was independently discovered by myself (Physics of Christianity, 2007), and the theodicy was independently discovered by Hunt (this book), provides strong evidence that the theodicy and free will theory are implied by the laws of physics and hence are correct."

Frank J. Tipler

"This book presents a theodicy based on the Everettian multiverse interpretation of quantum mechanics and discusses implications across a broad specter of topics–including quantum resurrection! Quantum mechanics and multiverse theory are topics that need to be explored much more by theology/philosophy of religion, and this book is full of creative new ideas worth reflecting upon. Especially interesting are the proposals on mind and brain, determinism, and free will, which one can learn from and accept regardless of whether one accepts the existence of a multiverse."

Atle Ottesen Søvik

"This book presents a theodicy based on the Everettian multiverse interpretation of quantum mechanics and discusses implications across a broad specter of topics–including quantum resurrection! Quantum mechanics and multiverse theory are topics that need to be explored much more by theology/philosophy of religion, and this book is full of creative new ideas worth reflecting upon. Especially interesting are the proposals on mind and brain, determinism, and free will, which one can learn from and accept regardless of whether one accepts the existence of a multiverse."

Atle Ottesen Søvik