The theological critique of the Théodicée was restrained until Wolff's expulsion from Halle. Only in 1737 was the concept of "optimism" formulated by a French Jesuit and was first used to negatively characterize the systems of Leibniz, Pope and Voltaire. Leibniz' position deviates from Catholic tradition in its assumption of a divine act of election and of numerical individuality of the universe, not however in the question of the origin of evil. The "determinado maximi" is only possible from an absolute (...) point of view. (shrink)