 The Absence Theory of Evil has its origins in the Platonic idea that there are different “degrees of being” corresponding to the number and kinds of capacities a thing has. Roughly speaking, the more numerous and impressive a thing’s capacities, the more real and thus better it is, metaphysically-speaking. A dog cannot stand erect; an ape can. A rock cannot pass through walls; an angel can. These lacks or absences are essential to being the kind of finite creature that a dog or a rock is; miracles aside, a rock is just the kind of thing that cannot pass through walls. All the same, the lack of that ability is an evil.