Uploaded December 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Stephen Law, professor of philosophy at Oxford, discusses his "evil god challenge" to theists: prove that God is not perfectly evil. That challenge, we will see, is surprisingly difficult to meet.
Stephen's paper outlining the evil-god challenge: jstor.org/stable/40927250
Mooney and Hendricks paper critiquing the challenge: academic.oup.com/analysis/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/analys/anae049/8217397
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Twitter: twitter.com/PhilosopherMKD
EPISODE CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:06 The evil-god challenge
00:11:03 The versions of the challenge
00:17:02 Does the moral argument break the parallel?
00:24:28 Skeptical theism will not undercut the challenge
00:34:07 Does skeptical theism lead to skepticism about everything?
00:46:30 The neutral-god challenge
00:53:13 Theodicies won't undercut the challenge, either
00:59:39 Would Jesus' resurrection break the parallel?
01:07:57 Is an evil god logically incoherent?
01:16:47 What are you most uncertain about?
Stephen Law, professor of philosophy at Oxford, discusses his "evil god challenge" to theists: prove that God is not perfectly evil. That challenge, we will see, is surprisingly difficult to meet.
Stephen's paper outlining the evil-god challenge: jstor.org/stable/40927250
Mooney and Hendricks paper critiquing the challenge: academic.oup.com/analysis/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/analys/anae049/8217397
To support the channel, do please oh please consider donating, either via PayPal (paypal.com/paypalme/mileskdonahue) or Buy Me a Coffee (buymeacoffee.com/mileskdonahue).
Twitter: twitter.com/PhilosopherMKD
EPISODE CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:06 The evil-god challenge
00:11:03 The versions of the challenge
00:17:02 Does the moral argument break the parallel?
00:24:28 Skeptical theism will not undercut the challenge
00:34:07 Does skeptical theism lead to skepticism about everything?
00:46:30 The neutral-god challenge
00:53:13 Theodicies won't undercut the challenge, either
00:59:39 Would Jesus' resurrection break the parallel?
01:07:57 Is an evil god logically incoherent?
01:16:47 What are you most uncertain about?
