Study of the problem of evil from a philosophical perspective

Though it has different definitions, evil can be considered as a phenomenon that everyone perceives. One of the oldest and most discussed problems of the history of thought has emerged based on this phenomenon. According to the problem of evil, there is controversy between the idea of an omnipotent, omniscience, merciful God and the evil in the world. Hume utters the problem with these words: "Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? then is he impotent. Is he able, but not willing? then is he malevolent. Is he both able and willing? whence then is evil?" We can sum up the attempts about solving the problem of evil to roughly two approaches. "Defense" is a method which aims to show that there is no inconsistency in the formulations of the problem of evil. "Theodicy" goes further and aims to justify God allowing the evil in the world. The solution of Alvin Plantinga on moral evil which is commited by will has been well accepted by modern literature. Richard Swinburne's approach cal also help to explain natural evil. The approach that humans are living in an examination world has an explanatory power for both kind of evils. In this study, Plantinga's "Free Will Defense" will be scrutinised within the context of both moral and natural evils, the objections will be evaluated and the relation between these solutions and the "examination paradigm" of teism will be put forward. Moreover, the role of the ontological founds of the "concept of evil" on the problem of evil will be discussed and the position of teism against ateism will be analysed.