Rethinking evil with Jacques Derrida

Evil is an excellent point of departure for exploring the relationship between Jacques Derrida's work and the philosophy of religion. This has not been the explicit focus of any published study on Derrida (1930-2004) thus far. This study explains how central themes in Derrida's writings can open new approaches to the problem of evil. In 1987, David O'Connor realized that the discourse of Anglo-American philosophy of religion had come to an impasse on the problem of evil. In 1998, O'Connor declared a detente between philosophy and theism on the topic. This much was already explained by the French philosopher Henry Dumery in 1968. The appeal to Derrida's writings does not provide the missing master key to this situation. However, the challenges Derrida sets forward for Western philosophy may also be taken as fundamental challenges resting within the structure of evil itself. The upshot not only challenges theism; it also knocks down arguments against theism. The study's first chapter reviews the debate on evil within the philosophy of religion as challenges to theism's credibility. These are the logical (Pike 1963), evidential (Rowe 1979), and probabilistic (Draper 1989) arguments from evil. Chapters two to six outline Derrida's basic concepts and then elaborate how they substantially challenge the prevailing presumptions about the problem of evil. The results from this investigation establish an original application of Derrida's thought relevant to theodicy and the problem of evil. Chapter seven finally summarizes how the problem of evil is to be reconsidered vis-à-vis Derrida's writings.