Alexander Pope's line (in fact, half a line) "Whatever is, is right" is just as facile as it first appears, a point noted by no less a critic than Samuel Johnson. It is no accident that the line recalls Candide's contention that all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds, since Voltaire was satirizing the view of Leibniz, whose optimistic philosophy was a response to the same problem that Pope addresses here.

The problem in question was most famously expressed by the Greek philosopher Epicurus in the form of a trilemma:

1. If God cannot prevent evil, then he is not omnipotent.
2. If God does not care to prevent evil, then he is not omnibenevolent.
3. If God is both omnipotent and omnibenevolent, how can there be evil?

The answer of both Leibniz and Pope is essentially: "There is no evil. You merely think there is because your perspective is imperfect. God, being perfect, sees the entire picture and knows that what you regard as evil is, in fact, a necessary part of his divine plan." This...