ABSTRACT

The problem of evil has both theoretical and existential dimensions. The theoretical problems deal with logical and epistemic relationships between propositions about God and evil. The existential dimension of the problem pertains to one's deeply personal response to evil and overall sense of the worth of human existence. The logical problem of evil arises on the basis of an alleged inconsistency between certain claims about God and certain claims about evil. Historically, the discussion of this problem has developed as critics attempt to expose an inconsistency among theistic beliefs and theistic philosophers attempt to show why there is no inconsistency. Before embarking on a complete discussion of the logical argument from evil, it is helpful to review the general concept of inconsistency orcontradiction. Interestingly, knowing the actual truth or falsity of the conjuncts in a contradictory proposition is not required in order to know that it suffers from inconsistency presumably, few people commit such flagrant errors in thinking.