Problem of Evil
If a good God is also all-powerful, then every teardrop becomes a theorem. The problem of evil is philosophy’s oldest and most relentless attempt to turn suffering into an argument.
Quick Facts
- Period
- 400 BC – present
- Region
- Europe
- Key Figures
- Alvin Plantinga, Augustine of Hippo, David Hume +3 more
Key Figures
Alvin Plantinga
Developer
Analytic Philosophy / Philosophy of ReligionAlvin Plantinga stands as the central modern defender who changed the landscape of the debate over evil, but his importa...
Augustine of Hippo
Originator
Late Antique ChristianityAugustine is one of the rare philosophers whose thought cannot be separated from a life story without losing the very th...
David Hume
Critic
Scottish EnlightenmentDavid Hume was not a commentator on al-Ghazali in any direct historical sense, and he did not shape al-Ghazali’s thought...
J. L. Mackie
Critic
Analytic PhilosophyJ. L. Mackie stands as one of the sharpest skeptics of the twentieth century, a philosopher whose most famous interventi...
John Hick
Interpreter
Twentieth-Century Philosophy of ReligionJohn Hick was one of the twentieth century’s most consequential Christian philosophers of religion, but his importance l...
Thomas Aquinas
Developer
ScholasticismThomas Aquinas stands as the most influential Christian interpreter of Aristotle, but that description only begins to ca...
The Story
This narrative combines documented history with dramatized scenes for storytelling purposes.
The World That Made It
Long before the problem of evil became a standard phrase in philosophy of religion, it was already a pressure in the texture of religious life. Human beings hav...
The Central Idea
The classic formulation of the problem of evil is deceptively simple: if God is all-good, God would want to eliminate evil; if God is all-powerful, God would be...
The System
Once the problem of evil is stated, the history of philosophy of religion becomes, in part, a history of repairs. Every serious defense tries to preserve three ...
Tensions & Critiques
The problem of evil became philosophically central because its answers were never cost-free. Every defense of God by appeal to freedom, providence, or soul-maki...
Legacy & Echoes
The problem of evil has outlived the particular theological systems that first gave it sharp definition because it keeps reappearing in new intellectual clothes...
Timeline
The Book of Job crystallizes righteous suffering
**400 BC** — The Hebrew poetic drama places innocent suffering at the center of theological reflection. Its refusal to collapse pain into simple punishment becomes one of the deepest antecedents of later philosophical treatments of evil.
Plotinus develops evil-as-privation
**300 AD** — In the Enneads, Plotinus argues that evil is not a positive substance but a lack of good and being. This Neoplatonic account will profoundly shape later Christian metaphysics.
Augustine writes against Manichaean dualism
**400 AD** — Across several works, Augustine rejects the idea that evil is an eternal rival principle to God. His account of privation and disordered will becomes foundational for Western theodicy.
Aquinas dies after systematizing providence and permissio
**1274** — The Summa Theologiae offers a mature scholastic framework in which God permits evil for the sake of a providential order. Later defenders of theism continue to draw on his distinctions between divine and creaturely causality.
Hume drafts the Dialogues on natural religion
**1739** — Hume’s skeptical exploration of design and suffering reframes the issue as an evidential challenge. The world’s defects become data in an argument about what sort of cause, if any, the world suggests.
Hegel reinterprets suffering within historical development
**1807** — Although not a philosopher of evil in the strict theological sense, Hegel’s thought influences later attempts to understand contradiction and suffering as moments within a larger rational process. His legacy helps shift some debates toward history and spirit.
Mackie publishes 'Evil and Omnipotence'
**1961** — This essay becomes a landmark of analytic philosophy of religion. It states the logical problem of evil with exceptional clarity and forces defenders to refine their position.
Plantinga publishes The Nature of Necessity and his free will defense
**1974** — Plantinga’s modal treatment shows that the logical problem of evil does not straightforwardly succeed. The debate thereafter turns toward evidential arguments and more careful modal reasoning.
Hick publishes Evil and the God of Love
**1966** — Hick’s soul-making theodicy revives an Irenaean approach in modern terms. He argues that a world with struggle may be necessary for mature moral and spiritual development.
The evidential problem of evil becomes standard in contemporary debate
**2001** — After Plantinga, philosophers increasingly focus on probabilistic versions of the argument, especially around natural evil, hiddenness, and the distribution of suffering. The issue remains central in analytic philosophy of religion.
Discussions of suffering intensify in public theology and trauma studies
**2017** — The problem of evil continues to shape conversation in theology, ethics, and trauma-informed philosophy. New attention is given to lament, solidarity, and the moral limits of explanation.
Plantinga’s death marks the close of an era in analytic theodicy
**2023** — His work had reshaped the logical problem of evil and inspired decades of debate. The question he helped clarify remains open, but the terms of its discussion were permanently altered.
Sources
- primary_textThe Bible, Book of Job
Canonical biblical treatment of righteous suffering.
- primary_textAugustine, Confessions
Autobiographical and theological background to Augustine’s account of evil.
- primary_textAugustine, Enchiridion on Faith, Hope, and Love
Concise statement of Augustine’s privation view and providence.
- primary_textThomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae
Classic scholastic treatment of evil, providence, and permission.
- primary_textDavid Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
Foundational skeptical critique of design and evil.
- primary_textJ. L. Mackie, 'Evil and Omnipotence'
Canonical formulation of the logical problem of evil in analytic philosophy.
- primary_textAlvin Plantinga, God, Freedom, and Evil
Influential free will defense against the logical problem of evil.
- primary_textJohn Hick, Evil and the God of Love
Major modern soul-making theodicy.
- referenceStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: 'The Problem of Evil'
Reliable overview of the debate, its history, and contemporary versions.
- referenceInternet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: 'Problem of Evil'
Accessible scholarly survey of logical and evidential formulations.
Explore Related Archives
The philosophies documented here connect to the broader record. Explore the context through our sister archives.
