Overthink Evil
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Mar 31, 2026 They trace evil from childhood villains and Disney coding to the gendered, racialized, and queer-coded signs that shape our imaginaries. They tackle classic theodicies, Manichaeism, and Augustine’s idea of evil as a lack of good. They debate Leibniz’s “best of all possible worlds,” Voltaire’s critique, and Hannah Arendt’s banality of evil in modern politics.
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Privation View Pushes The Question Back To Free Will
- The privation view faces a challenge: who allows privations to exist and why would God grant beings power to cause them, prompting debates about free will.
- Pain and torture also resist easy classification as mere absences of good.
Leibniz Argues We Live In The Best Of All Possible Worlds
- Leibniz's theodicy claims God chose the best of all possible worlds: God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, yet some evils are metaphysically necessary for maximal overall goodness.
- Leibniz says our limited minds can't grasp why particular evils are necessary.
Candide's Famous Retort To Optimism
- David and Ellie recall Voltaire's Candide mocking Leibniz via Dr. Pangloss, who insists everything is for the best despite catastrophe.
- Ellie quotes Candide: If this is the best world, what are the others like?
