Theodicy - Library of Liberal Arts Author:Gottfried Wilhelm Von Leibniz, E. M. Huggard (Translator), Diogenes Allen (Editor) Leibniz asserts in THEODICY that evil does not conflict with the goodness of God, and that notwithstanding its many evils, the world is the best of all possible worlds. Leibniz wrote his THEODICY as a criticism of Pierre Bayle's DICTIONNAIRE HISTORIQUE ET CRITIQUE. Bayle, a well-known skeptic, had argued that the sufferings experienced in th... more »is earthly life prove that God could not be good and omnipotent. The optimism in THEODICY is thought to have inspired Voltaire's satire of Leibniz's optimism, CANDIDE.« less