Evil in the best of all possible worlds

The philosopher, G. F. Stout, taught that because God is all-good the only world worthy of His creation is the best of all possible. But by this he did not mean the “safest” or the one in which humans would be most comfortable. Stout meant the one that contained the maximum number of virtues. But some virtues can only exist in a struggle with evils, so (according to Stout) the best of all possible worlds must, paradoxically, also contain evil or, at least, the real potential for evil! Not that God creates evil, but He creates the potential for evil as part of His best of all possible worlds. Another philosopher, John Anderson, went even further and argued that virtues (goods) can only exist in a struggle with evils. That thesis was criticized by his son and fellow philosopher, Alexander Anderson who (correctly in my opinion) came closer to Stout on that issue, though for very different reasons. Both the Andersons were atheists, so the best-of-all-possible-worlds issue played no part in their thoughts.

Some years ago, I spoke about Stout’s ideas with one of the ministers at my church. He pretty much agreed, but went even further by applying this to the Fall. In his opinion, the Fall of Man had to happen, because if sin had not entered the world, God’s forgiveness (and, we might also say, His justice) would never have been revealed or (so to speak) “activated”. Forgiveness, mercy, justice and so forth would never have been manifested in God but would only have existed as potentials had Man never fallen!

But this does not mean that God brought about the Fall or created evil (because then He would not be all good). This is something beyond human understanding but forms part of the larger issue of God’s own Nature (in a sense) “constraining” His actions (e.g. God could not have created anything less than the best of all possible universes and He could not have created evil. By His power, He could have created an evil world, but because of His innate goodness, He could not have done so).

Very deep issues that will not, I think, be resolved in this life.