Theodicy: The Solution to the Problem of Evil, or Part of the Problem?

摘要: Theodicy, the enterprise of searching for greater goods that might plausibly justify God’s permission evil, is often criticized on grounds project has systematically failed to unearth any such goods. But theodicists also face a deeper challenge, one places under question very attempt look morally sufficient reasons God have creating world littered with evil. This ‘anti-theodical’ view argues theists (and non-theists) ought reject, primarily moral reasons, ‘justifying ways men’. Unfortunately, this not received serious attention it deserves, particularly in analytic philosophy religion. Taking my cues from anti-theodicists as Kenneth Surin, D.Z. Phillips and Dostoyevsky’s Ivan Karamazov, I defend several holding way thinking about evil enshrined theodical discourse can only add world’s evils, remove or illuminate them.