Malebranche's Theodicy for Natural Evils

Abstract

My dissertation examines Malebranche’s theodicy for natural evils (i.e., Malebranche’s reconciliation of the existence of God with the existence of natural evils). In Chapter 1, entitled “The Conceptual Possibility of Natural Evils,” I explain how Malebranche conceives of certain natural things (e.g., pains, deformities/monstrosities, and disasters) as natural evils. Chapter 1 is preliminary: it clarifies Malebranche’s conception of natural evils as certain deviations from the biological forms that agree with the dictates of God’s Reason or wisdom. In Chapter 2, entitled “The Physical Possibility of Natural Evils,” I explain how Malebranche’s God produces natural evils in the physical world. Similar to Chapter 1, Chapter 2 is preliminary: it clarifies the causal involvement of Malebranche’s God in His production of natural evils, and it therefore specifies His activities that are to be reconciled with His absolute perfection. In Chapter 3, entitled “The Theological Possibility of Natural Evils,” I reconstruct Malebranche’s theodicy for natural evils by explaining how Malebranche’s God – who is by definition absolutely perfect – performs the aforespecified activities that result in natural evils. On my reconstruction, Malebranche’s God is determined by His absolute perfection – His Reason or wisdom, more precisely – to bring about natural evils, so natural evils do not pose any threat to His absolute perfection, and, accordingly, the existence of God is reconciled with the existence of natural evils. In light of this examination of Malebranche’s theodicy for natural evils, I make clear Malebranche’s contribution to the early modern development of rationalism: Malebranche articulates the central role of God’s Reason or wisdom in determining the purposes and causal histories of natural things, which amounts to the rationalization of the normative and descriptive dimensions of nature, respectively.