In the philosophy of religion and theology, the problem of evil is the question of whether evil exists and, if so, why. The question particularly arises in religions that propose the existence of a deity who is omnibenevolent while simultaneously also being omnipotent, and omniscient; attempts to resolve the question under these contexts has historically been one of the prime concerns of theodicy.
Some responses include the arguments that true fr...
more
In the philosophy of religion and theology, the problem of evil is the question of whether evil exists and, if so, why. The question particularly arises in religions that propose the existence of a deity who is omnibenevolent while simultaneously also being omnipotent, and omniscient; attempts to resolve the question under these contexts has historically been one of the prime concerns of theodicy.
Some responses include the arguments that true free will cannot exist without the possibility of evil, that humans cannot understand God, that evil is merely the privation of good, or that evil is a result of a corrupted and fallen world.
There are also many discussions of "evil" and associated problems in other philosophical fields, such as secular ethics, and scientific disciplines such as evolutionary ethics. But as usually understood in the Anglo-American tradition, the problem of evil is posed in a religious context.
Numerous different versions of the problem of evil have been...
less
