From the book
The Gods Are Athirst
Anatole France · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Meaning
Related words and phrases.
Mal is evil or harm. Brotteaux’s reported Epicurean dilemma distinguishes divine willingness from power to prevent it, testing four combinations rather than simply asserting that God does not exist. Longuemare rejects the human moral standard presupposed by the test and refuses an extended dispute. The exchange stages incompatible ways of judging; it does not end in a mutually accepted solution.
Places to read
- Chapter XIV, paragraph 27FrenchOu Dieu veut empêcher le mal et ne le peut: either God wishes to prevent evil and cannot. The first branch separates volonté from puissance.
- Chapter XIV, paragraph 29Frenchcomme s’il était un homme et en avait la morale: as though God were a man with human morality. Longuemare attacks the premise of Brotteaux’s comparison.