Leibniz Plantinga And Hick Answer To The Problem Of Evil

Leibniz, Plantinga and Hick try to answer the question of the existence of evil in the world with their differing yet equally intellectual theodicy’s. Leibniz attacks the problem of evil with the concept of our world being the best possible world that God could create. Plantinga explains the hardships in the world with a free will theodicy, in which the world exists in its manner due to the free will of humanity. I argue that while each theodicy brings up a pertinent view to assess the issue, none solve the problem of why evil exists in a world with an omnimax God. I will argue that the idea of an omnimax God is not compatible with the current hypothesized doctrines on the problem of evil.

The problem of evil is the question of why God would allow evil into the world. If God is an omnimax super being She would want to create an optimal world. An omnimax God is omnipotent, all powerful; omniscient, all knowing; and omnibenevolent, all good. The following are three arguments on the problem of evil and how they stand against themselves and each other. While Leibniz and Plantinga raise adequate theories to the problem of evil, none of them satisfactorily answers the question
If God were morally perfect She would want to eliminate evil from the world and since she is all powerful she would also have the power to do so. But evil does exist in this world so God is either morally imperfect or she is not omnipotent. To retain the belief in God as a morally perfect, omnipotent being, Leibniz needs to explain why God allowed evil into the world. “Leibniz argues that God was confronted with a wide array of options in terms of possible worlds that he could have created. However, by virtue of his wisdom, goodness and omnipotence, God created this world. Therefore, according to Leibniz, this world must be the best possible world”