This is episode 29 of the Logos Institute Podcast. In it, we decided to release the audio from the recent National Logos Lecture, which was given by Professor Yujin Nagasawa (University of Birmingham & Co-Director of the John Hick Centre for the Philosophy of Religion) on May 24, 2019.

In this talk, Professor Nagasawa begins by rehearsing the history of the problem of evil and developing his own version of it that he dubs the systemic problem of evil (i.e. concerning the system of natural selection and all the evil it implies). He then turns his attention to the thesis of ethical optimism (i.e. the claim that the world is sufficiently good to be good on the whole) and how it conflicts with the empirical observations he mentioned prior in his development of the systemic problem of evil. This then leads to a conflict of rationality, he thinks, for ethically optimistic atheists since it seems practically impossible to endorse both ethical optimism and atheism simultaneously. More importantly, however, he thinks that even if the atheist can reconcile her commitment to both theses, the atheist's prospects for success look far less hopeful than the theists.

If you've enjoyed listening to this lecture, please see other content from our guest:

1. Yujin Nagasawa - https://www.yujinnagasawa.co.uk/

2. Closer to Truth Videos - https://www.closertotruth.com/contributor/yujin-nagasawa/profile

3 - John Hick Centre for the Philosophy of Religion - https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/activity/philosophyofreligion/index.aspx

To learn more about the Logos Institute, visit our webpage at logos.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk. And don't forget to follow us on our blog where we post content from friends of the Institute at blogos.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk. You can also find us on Twitter (@TheologyStAs) and Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheologyStAs/?fb…Oc4Pz4P0qkCrfO_w