The Logical Problem of Evil

Philosophy of Religion: The Problem of Evil

In this course, Professor John Cottingham (University of Reading) explores of the key issues in the philosophy of religion: the problem of evil. We begin by thinking about the attributes of god and the logical problem of evil. Is it logically possible for evil to exist with an omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent God? After that, we turn to the evidential problem of evil. Even if it were logically possible for evil to exist with an omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent God, should we infer from amount of evil that exists in the world that such a God in fact exists? In the third and fourth modules, we think two of the most well-known responses to the problem of evil – the free-will defence the ‘vale of soul-making’ defence – before turning in the fifth module to the philosophy of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) and the concept of metaphysical evil.

The Logical Problem of Evil

In this module, we think about the logical problem of evil: is it logically possible for evil to exist with an omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent God?