Leibniz's Theodicy

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What is evil and who creates it? If evil is created, does one automatically assume God is responsible for it, if in fact He is the creator of all things. This leads to the troubling question of why; why would God allow such a thing on earth, given he had the choice of what was produced, or exempt from this world? If God is considered 'good in itself,' then why would he allow humans to be struck by evil. Moreover, if God can't control evil in the world, how is He the Supreme Being. In other words, is God truly real? These perennial and perplexing questions are detailed and explained through various "theodicy's" throughout Joseph Kelly's, The Problem of Evil in the Western Tradition where multiple philosophers further try to rationalize evil. During the seventeenth century, the Bible, tradition, and reason impacted Westerner's views and understands for knowledge. While…show more content…
Leibniz, a believing Protestant, had an answer for this question. In other words, his theodicy. Leibniz believed the existence of both God and evil contested His righteousness. In efforts to save what was left of traditional Christianity, Leibniz led on that the Bible was written the way it was so that even the uneducated could comprehend God's teaching. Furthermore, he rationalized that God does exist, and is a good being. Thus, He also does what is best. For example, this is the best world God could have created, according to Leibniz. But how is this so if humans suffer from everyday evils? Leibniz defends this attack by explaining that this is not the best conceivable world; however it is the best possible one. He adds that God has a certain responsibility, which is why evil exists. In his explanation, Leibniz illustrates that God created humans to resemble himself. He gave them free will and intelligence, but since only He can be flawless, it is probable that the flawed [humans] can choose evil instead of
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