ANIMAL
SUFFERING, EVOLUTION, AND THE ORIGINS
OF
EVIL: TOWARD A “FREE CREATURES” DEFENSE
by
Joshua M. Moritz
Abstract.
Does
an affirmation of theistic evolution make the task
of
theodicy impossible? In this article, I will review a number of an-
cient
and contemporary responses to the problem of evil as it concerns
animal
suffering and s uggest a possible way forward which employs
the
ancient Jewish insight that evil—as resistance to God’s will that
results
in suffering and alienation from God’s purposes—precedes the
arrival
of human beings and already has a firm foothold in the nonhu-
man
animal world long before humans are ever tempted to go astray.
This
theological intuition is conferred renewed relevance in light of
the
empirical reality of evolutionary gradualism and continuity and
in
view of the recent findings of cognitive ethology. Consequently, I
suggest
that taking biological evolution seriously entails understand-
ing
“moral evil” as a prehuman phenomenon that emerges gradually
through
the actions and intentions of “free creatures” which—as evo-
lutionary
history unfolded—increasingly possessed greater levels of
freedom
and degrees of moral culpability.
Keywords:
animal
morality; animal suffering; cognitive ethology;
evil;
evolution; the Fall; free will; theodicy
