Malebranche And Leibniz Solution To Evil Analysis

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Malebranche and Leibniz solution to evil
The problem of evil has been categorized variously, but the major categorizations of evil entail the physical evil on the one hand, and the moral evil, on the other hand. Physical evil has been defined as the occurrence of a physical suffering and destruction that is caused by the operation of natural laws, with no involvement of the human intention in the occurrence of such events (Kremer and Latzer, 89). On the other hand, moral evil has been defined as the occurrence of events that violates the natural laws, for which humans are responsible (Kremer and Latzer, 89). In this respect, while in the physical evil there is no participation of humans, the moral evil is contributed by the involvement of the personal will and intellect in doing what naturally should not be done, or what is simply considered morally wrong.
The two concepts of the problem of evil in the world have been a subject of much debate, with diverse views regarding the role of God in the occurrence of events and actions that causes human beings to suffer. Thus, while there is a total agreement between Malebranche and Leibniz regarding the role of God in creating the world, where both agrees that God did justice in creating the world, there has been a disparity in their view regarding the role of God in the occurrence of actions and events that causes human beings to suffer. Thus, Malebranche advances the theory of occasionalism, which holds that God is the only causal agent in the world, and is therefore responsible for all the evil that happens in the world, because God’s creatures do not have significant causal abilities upon which to act (Brown, 82). Therefore, according to Malebranche, the acts of h...

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...ensations that might result the body to suffer pain (Leibniz, 21).
In line with the above arguments regarding the perfectness of the world as it exists, as advanced by Malebranche and Leibniz, it is the opinion of this discussion that the view advanced by Leibniz is more plausible. This is because, considering the fact that God is all-powerful, He has created the conscious as the tool that directs humans to know the right and wrong, but the will of God from the beginning has been that man shall do what is right (Leibniz, 2). Therefore, the fact that bad things happen is contributed by the choice of man to ignore the conscious that defines good or bad, and instead to do against the will of the conscious. Therefore, God is no t responsible for the human actions that are directed by the humans own intellect and will (Brown, 91). For this reason, Leibniz is plausible.

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