The "Trilemma" of "Theodicy"

Epistemology

First published Wed Dec 14, 2005

Defined narrowly, epistemology is the study of knowledge and justified belief. As the study of knowledge, epistemology is concerned with the following questions: What are the necessary and sufficient conditions of knowledge? What are its sources? What is its structure, and what are its limits?

THE “TRILEMMA”

“Is [God] willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then [God] is impotent.

Is [God] able, but not willing? Then [God] is malevolent. Is [God] both able and willing? whence then is evil?”

     Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, David Hume

                                 Whence then is evil? Hmmm...

QUESTION?

Is “evil” always just a matter of what people think and feel it is, or does it have a recognizable identity of its own, “out there in the world”, so to speak? Is evil something we discover, or is it something we project unto the world?