Evil: The Philosophy of Suffering & Wickedness

What Is the Free Will Defense Against the Problem of Evil?

The free will defense, developed by Alvin Plantinga, shows that God and evil are logically consistent by way of creaturely freedom. Trace the argument, its relation to Mackie's logical problem, and the main objections.

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What Is the Problem of Evil?

The problem of evil argues that the existence of evil is incompatible with an all-good, all-powerful God. Trace the logical and evidential versions, Mackie's formulation, and the main theistic replies.

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What Is a Theodicy?

A theodicy is a justification of God's goodness in the face of evil. Trace the term's Leibnizian origin, the main types (Augustinian, Irenaean, soul-making), and the difference between theodicy and defense.

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Evil: The Wisdom of Confronting Darkness

Evil wisdom is the courage to confront darkness honestly — not explaining suffering away but facing its reality and finding meaning within it. From Augustine's free will defense to the silence of Job, this is the wisdom of refusing easy answers.

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God: The Wisdom of the Divine

God wisdom is the philosophical contemplation of the divine as the ground of being and the mystery of existence itself — the human search for ultimate meaning that runs through every tradition, from Aquinas's five ways to the silence of the mystics.

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Alvin Plantinga: Reformed Epistemology & the Free Will Defense

An evidence-led introduction to Alvin Plantinga, the American philosopher whose Reformed epistemology argued that belief in God can be properly basic, and whose free will defense transformed the problem of evil.

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John Hick: Theodicy, Religious Pluralism & Soul-Making

An evidence-led introduction to John Hick, the British philosopher whose Irenaean theodicy reframed evil as soul-making and whose later work pioneered religious pluralism and the hypothesis of the Real an sich.

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Augustine of Hippo

Augustine of Hippo (354-430) was a North African bishop and philosopher whose synthesis of Christian theology with Greek philosophy shaped Western thought for over a millennium.

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Thomas Aquinas

A comprehensive introduction to Thomas Aquinas, the thirteenth-century Dominican philosopher whose synthesis of Aristotelian philosophy with Christian theology shaped Western intellectual life for centuries.

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David Hume

Scottish philosopher whose empiricist investigation of knowledge, causation, and morality reshaped modern philosophy and provoked Kant's critical turn.

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Immanuel Kant

German philosopher whose critical philosophy revolutionized epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics through systematic accounts of reason, experience, and moral duty.

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The City of God by Augustine of Hippo

An evidence-led guide to Augustine of Hippo's The City of God: the monumental meditation on the two cities, providence, evil, and the foundations of Christian philosophy in the twilight of the Roman Empire.

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Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion by David Hume

An evidence-led guide to David Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion: the classic critique of the design argument, the problem of miracles, and the limits of empirical reasoning about God.

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Philosophy of Evil

An introduction to the philosophy of evil: the logical and evidential problems of evil, theodicy, the free will defense, natural vs moral evil, and the soul-making approach, from Augustine to Plantinga and Hick.

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Philosophy of God

An introduction to the philosophy of God: the existence of God, divine attributes, the nature of divine action, and the coherence of theism, from Aquinas and Anselm to Swinburne and Plantinga.

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Ethics

An introduction to ethics, the philosophical study of morality, examining its central questions, major traditions, and the thinkers who shaped our understanding of how to live and act.

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Philosophy of Religion

Philosophy of religion is the philosophical examination of religious claims, concepts, and practices, including arguments for God's existence, the problem of evil, and the nature of faith.

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Religion, God & the Sacred: The Philosophy of Religion Learning Path

A structured learning path through the philosophy of religion: from the philosophy of God and the problem of evil to atheism, faith, religious experience, miracles, prayer, sin, and the sacred.

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Ethics & Moral Wisdom

A structured learning path through moral philosophy, from the great ethical theories of duty, utility, and virtue to the practical art of making ethical decisions in everyday life.

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