Concept in Definition ABC

In relation to the idea of ​​God there are several options: those who are atheists consider that it does not exist, agnostics do not reject the idea of ​​God but they understand that it is a idea that goes beyond human understanding, believers defend their existence from faith and some philosophers affirm that it is possible to explain God from a perspective rational. This last conception is precisely the fundamental principle of theodicy, an area of ​​the philosophy which in its literal sense deals with the justification of God.

Origin of theodicy as a branch of philosophy

From the seventeenth century on, Western philosophy promoted a new trend known as Rationalism. The philosophers belonging to it understood that human reason was sufficient to explain the whole of reality. It is in this context that the term theodicy first arises.

It was specifically Leibniz who used it to address some issues that were previously part of theology. Among the issues he discussed, three stand out: the goodness of God, the

Liberty of the human being and the origin of evil. It should be noted that the term theodicy is sometimes equivalent to another, natural theology.

God and the problem of evil in Leibniz

The existence of evil is an obvious fact. However, for a person who believes in God this reality can be problematic, since the existence of God seems incompatible with the existence of evil. In other words, evil generates suffering and if God is infinitely kind he should not allow human suffering caused by the existence of evil. Faced with this question, Leibniz maintains the following: the path of evil depends exclusively on human freedom. In this sense, Leibniz comes to say that God has created men to be free and it is up to them to choose between the path of good or evil.

According to thesis of Leibniz, when men misuse their freedom is when evil appears. Consequently, God has no responsibility regarding the existence of evil in the world.

The conception of God in Aristotle and Spinoza

The idea of ​​God has preoccupied philosophers since the origins of philosophy. For Aristotle, God is a necessary being and is the first cause that explains everything that exists. In other words, from a purely rational point of view there must be a first cause that provides a explanation of the totality of the universe and that first cause Aristotle called it Immobile Motor, an equivalent concept God's. For Spinoza, the idea of ​​God is not found anywhere. book sacred but in the order of nature.

The expositions on God of Leibniz, Aristotle and Spinoza are three examples of natural theology or theodicy, a branch of the metaphysics.

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