Moar philosophizin'
Just thinking out loud here:
Hurricanes/earthquakes are natural processes.
That we know of, Mars and Jupiter are uninhabited:
Is a hurricane on Jupiter an evil disaster (I am thinking of the Great Red Spot)?
Is an earthquake on Mars an evil disaster?
Things are only disastrous in a human context, aren't they?
We wouldn't be able to live without a natural process like gravity or we'd tumble into space. We need gravity, but a fall off of a tall building is disastrous--unless you have a parachute.
It's the context, a natural process is evil when it causes suffering to human beings. A hurricane on Jupiter causes us no suffering.
Suffering comes from evil, but is evil a thing? If my heart is weak and I need to take meds, is it an evil heart? Or is it the actual weakness that is evil? It's the condition of my heart that makes me suffer.
Evil, which leads to suffering, is not a thing, evil is a condition that arises out of something else. An earthquake under Port Au Prince is evil, it causes human suffering. An earthquake under Olympus Mons causes no suffering, so it is not evil.
If we had the power to dampen earthquakes or prevent them from doing harm to humans, would they still be evil? What about hurricanes?
Is ignorance a moral evil? Maybe not....I certainly can't choose to avoid ignorance completely, so it isn't a moral choice....
But if we had never engaged in moral evil, would we suffer natural evil?
Maybe natural evil is a condition that arises out of moral evil, but I'm just speculating here......
BTS
