Abstract
Leibniz was and is well known for his effort to answer the philosophical and theological problems posed by evil. Already in his own day he was gratified that his Theodicy (1710), a book-length treatment of “the goodness of God, the freedom of man, and the origin of evil,” had “pleased excellent theologians of all three main confessions” (Antognazza 2009, 482–3). Voltaire’s popular play, Candide (1759), features Dr. Pangloss, whose refusal to acknowledge the badness of things seems to caricature Leibniz’s optimism. More recently, scholars have given the problem of evil a central place in Leibniz’s thought (Rutherford 1995; Antognazza 2009). Major projects have provided access to key texts (CP; LGR; DPG), insight into the Theodicy itself (Rateau 2011; Jorgensen & Newlands 2014), and a synthetic understanding of Leibniz’s developing views (Rateau 2019).
This entry follows Leibniz’s effort to credit God for good while excusing God of evil, beginning with his first attempts in the early 1670s and culminating in his most extensive and popular published work, the Theodicy (Antognazza 2009, 480). The first section outlines Leibniz’s understanding of why evil presents a problem for his conceptions of God, freedom, and creation. The second section presents Leibniz’s first attempt at a complete answer, and the final section focuses on the emergence and coherence of Leibniz’s mature view.