Skeptical theism

Skeptical theism has historically been deployed as a response to the argument from evil. The primary importance of skeptical theism is its potential to undermine some formulations of the argument from evil for atheism. This chapter discusses the development of skeptical theist views in Western philosophy and then surveys both the standard formulations/defenses of skeptical theism and the standard criticisms of skeptical theism in the contemporary philosophical literature. Skeptical theism remains a popular view both among students first encountering the problem of evil and among professional philosophers. Some skeptical theists have appealed to analogies to defend their view. The soundness of the argument from analogy ultimately depends on the similarities of the analogs. Some skeptical theists appeal to complexity to defend skeptical theism, while Howard-Snyder uses complexity to undermine an objection to skeptical theism. Skeptical theism has been defended by appeal to epistemic considerations regarding context or contrast classes.