Ruminations about evil

Abstract

Consider the claim that we have good reasons to believe that there exist gratuitous evils (evils that an omnipotent, omniscient being could have prevented without losing some greater good or permitting some evil equally bad or worse.) In this paper I respond to two criticisms of this claim–one by Plantinga and one by Wykstra. I also respond to a criticism by Hasker to the effect that God would be justified in permitting the existence of gratuitous evil.