Theodicy: Essays On the Goodness of God the Freedom of Man and the Origin of Evil

Théodicée, is a book of philosophy by the German polymath Gottfried Leibniz. The book, published in 1710, introduced the term theodicy, and its optimistic approach to the problem of evil is thought to have inspired Candide (albeit satirically). Much of the work consists of a response to the ideas of Pierre Bayle, with whom Leibniz carried on a debate for many years.