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*noun*; from Greek, θεός {god} + δίκαιον (justice). Literally, "the justice of God."   Specifically, the attempt to explain God's ways to mortals.    The term was used by Gottfried Leibniz for his book {Théodicée} explaining how an omnipotent and benevolent God could allow suffering in the universe.  Leibniz took the approach that this was the "best of all possible worlds," meaning that God could not have made this world better in any one respect, without making it worse in others.  In 1759, Voltaire published the novel *Candide* which was essentially a very long satire of Leibniz' views.  The character of Dr. Pangloss is based on Leibniz, although it has been argued that Voltaire misrepresented Leibniz' views.   In common usage, the term *theodicy* refers to any defense of a thing based on the claim that whatever that thing does is the best possible.  The obvious example is neoclassical economics, which insists that whatever outcome achieved by "the market," it is the best one that could possibly exist.  It's a fallacy because it uses circular reasoning, and it is unfalsifiable.

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