Theodicy

E92349

book philosophical work theological work

Theodicy is a philosophical and theological work by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz that attempts to reconcile the existence of evil with an all-powerful, all-good God by arguing that we live in the best of all possible worlds.

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All labels observed (3)

Label	Occurrences
Theodicy canonical	4
Essays on Theodicy	1
Theodicy: Essays on the Goodness of God, the Freedom of Man and the Origin of Evil	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T775136 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Theodicy
Context triple: [Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, notableWork, Theodicy]

A. On God
"On God" is a gospel-influenced hip-hop track by Kanye West from his 2019 album *Jesus Is King*, featuring themes of faith, gratitude, and divine protection.
B. The Freedom of the Will
The Freedom of the Will is an influential 18th-century theological and philosophical treatise by Jonathan Edwards that rigorously defends a compatibilist view of human freedom and divine sovereignty.
C. Three Essays on Religion
Three Essays on Religion is a posthumously published collection of philosophical essays by John Stuart Mill that critically examines religious belief, theism, and the role of religion in moral life.
D. The Trial of God
The Trial of God is a play by Elie Wiesel that dramatizes a mock trial of God in a Jewish village devastated by a pogrom, exploring faith, suffering, and divine justice in the shadow of the Holocaust.
E. Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion is a philosophical work by David Hume that presents a skeptical examination of arguments for the existence and nature of God through a series of fictional dialogues.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Theodicy
Target entity description: Theodicy is a philosophical and theological work by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz that attempts to reconcile the existence of evil with an all-powerful, all-good God by arguing that we live in the best of all possible worlds.

A. On God
"On God" is a gospel-influenced hip-hop track by Kanye West from his 2019 album *Jesus Is King*, featuring themes of faith, gratitude, and divine protection.
B. The Freedom of the Will
The Freedom of the Will is an influential 18th-century theological and philosophical treatise by Jonathan Edwards that rigorously defends a compatibilist view of human freedom and divine sovereignty.
C. Three Essays on Religion
Three Essays on Religion is a posthumously published collection of philosophical essays by John Stuart Mill that critically examines religious belief, theism, and the role of religion in moral life.
D. The Trial of God
The Trial of God is a play by Elie Wiesel that dramatizes a mock trial of God in a Jewish village devastated by a pogrom, exploring faith, suffering, and divine justice in the shadow of the Holocaust.
E. Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion is a philosophical work by David Hume that presents a skeptical examination of arguments for the existence and nature of God through a series of fictional dialogues.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (48)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	book ⓘ philosophical work ⓘ theological work ⓘ
addresses	compatibility of divine foreknowledge and human freedom ⓘ nature of God’s will ⓘ origin of evil ⓘ
aim	to reconcile the existence of evil with an omnipotent, omnibenevolent God ⓘ
author	Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz ⓘ
countryOfOrigin	Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg ⓘ surface form: Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg
criticizedBy	Voltaire ⓘ
genre	apologetics ⓘ religious philosophy ⓘ
influenced	Enlightenment philosophy ⓘ philosophy of religion ⓘ subsequent theodicy debates ⓘ
influencedBy	Augustine of Hippo ⓘ Christian theology ⓘ Scholastic theology ⓘ surface form: Scholastic philosophy St. Thomas Aquinas ⓘ surface form: Thomas Aquinas
keyConcept	freedom and necessity ⓘ possible worlds ⓘ pre-established harmony ⓘ sufficient reason ⓘ
language	French ⓘ
mainTopic	divine goodness ⓘ divine justice ⓘ divine omnipotence ⓘ free will ⓘ problem of evil ⓘ theodicy ⓘ
notableThesis	God permits evil for greater goods ⓘ metaphysical evil is inherent in created, finite beings ⓘ moral evil results from human free will ⓘ physical evil can serve as a means to greater harmony ⓘ this is the best of all possible worlds ⓘ
originalTitle	Essais de Théodicée sur la bonté de Dieu, la liberté de l’homme et l’origine du mal ⓘ
philosophicalDiscipline	ethics ⓘ metaphysics ⓘ philosophy of religion ⓘ
philosophicalTradition	early modern philosophy ⓘ rationalism ⓘ
publicationYear	1710 ⓘ
relatedWork	Candide ⓘ
religiousContext	Christianity ⓘ Lutheranism ⓘ
structure	appendices ⓘ preface ⓘ three main parts ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (6)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz → notableWork → Theodicy ⓘ

this entity surface form: Essays on Theodicy

Monadology → relatedWork → Theodicy ⓘ

Discourse on Metaphysics → relatedWorkByAuthor → Theodicy ⓘ

Essais de Théodicée sur la bonté de Dieu, la liberté de l’homme et l’origine du mal → hasTranslation → Theodicy ⓘ

this entity surface form: Theodicy: Essays on the Goodness of God, the Freedom of Man and the Origin of Evil

Leibniz's metaphysics of modality → articulatedIn → Theodicy ⓘ

All labels observed (3)

How this entity was disambiguated Show

Statements (48)

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Referenced by (6)

How this entity was disambiguated

How these facts were elicited