Karma and the Problem of Evil

Abstract

The doctrine of karma continues to be significant because it provides an explanation for both pain, suffering and misfortune on the one hand, and pleasure, happiness and good fortune on the other. Consequently, an assessment of the success of the doctrine in resolving the problem of good and evil will go a long way in enabling us to evaluate the doctrine itself, for should it fail to resolve satisfactorily the problem which it is intended to meet, since as we have seen the law is an explanatory hypothesis proposed to resolve a problem and not empirically verifiable, there would seem to be little reason to advocate the doctrine.