After Theodicy: The Problem of Evil in the Analytic Philosophy of Religion

Abstract

The article provides a brief outline of the genealogy of contemporary discussions of the problem of evil in analytical philosophy of religion. I argue that contemporary arguments from evil go back to the discussions of the origin of evil and its place in the general order of things, as well as to the dual classification of good and evil (good-evil-indifferent and soul-body-external good/evil) in Antiquity. However, a hallmark of the contemporary version of the problem of evil is that it is formulated exclusively as atheistic arguments (i.e. arguments against God’s existence). All these arguments are sound only within the context of Abrahamic religions so that they constitute argumentative problem only for theism. One of the main trends in the development of these debates is to overcome established theistic practices of theodicy and defences.