Question The privation of good is a theological doctrine that evil, unlike good, is insubstantial, so that thinking of it as an entity is misleading. Instead, evil is rather the absence or lack ("privation") of good. The relationship between light and darkness is often used to frame a metaphorical understanding of good and evil. This metaphor can be used to answer the problem of evil: If evil, like darkness, does not truly exist, but is only a name we give to our perception of the privation of good, then our widespread observation of evil does not preclude the possibility of a benevolent, omniscient, and omnipresent God. How can I attempt to refute or at least call into question the above depiction of evil if a theist attempts to use it to dodge the problem of evil?

Accepted:

February 13, 2014