Archbishop William King’s Critique of Manichaeism in the Treatise "On the Origin of Evil" (1702)

Abstract

This paper examines the Irish philosopher, theologian and divine William King’s (1650–1729) discussion of Manichaeism in the essay De Origine Mali (On the Origin of Evil) (1702). King intended to demonstrate that the Manichaeist solution to the problem of the origin of evil, consisting in assuming the existence of two opposite principles of, respectively, good and evil, leaves the problem untouched and, therefore, cannot compete with the orthodox view, according to which the presence of evil, despite appearances to the contrary, is compatible with the one and perfect principle of all creation. Following preliminary remarks about the text, context, and King’s terminology, this paper argues that his criticism is flawed.