ABSTRACT
The Lisbon earthquake is often presented as first 'modern' disaster in that it prompted philosophers to seek rational, non-divine explanations for natural catastrophes. The concept of an ultimately beneficent and divinely created natural order was shaken by the earthquake, which generated much discussion as to the natural or supernatural character of the event. Lisbon was the focus of attention for the 'whole of the relevant civilised world'. The Lisbon earthquake did not simply mark the destruction of an important city, but also the violent exposure of frail humankind to the recalcitrant forces of the Earth. Ever since Lisbon, European societies have expected coordinated state response in times of disaster, and are less inclined to attribute them to a cosmic impulse to punishment. Lisbon marks the severing of moral meaning from nature, and, with it, the rise of impersonal, accidental evil in our view of natural calamities.
