Final answer:
Faustus in 'Doctor Faustus' contemplates the problem of evil, questioning how a benevolent, all-powerful God could permit evil's existence, which is a central question in philosophy of religion.
Step-by-step explanation:
The philosophical problem that plagues Faustus' thoughts in the play Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe is primarily the problem of evil. Faustus struggles with the traditional interpretations of God's existence and omnibenevolence in the face of the existence of evil and suffering in the world. This challenge is rooted in classic philosophical discourse, as noted by David Hume and others, which questions how an all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good God could allow evil to exist. This invariably leads to a broader discussion regarding free will, determinism, and the nature of evil itself—mixing theological perspectives with philosophical inquiry.
The problem of evil can be considered both from a logical standpoint, which examines the consistency of God's attributes with the existence of evil, and from an evidential standpoint, which wrestles with the actual presence of suffering and whether this contradicts the attributes ascribed to a benevolent deity. Throughout history, philosophers like Augustine and Aquinas have sought to use reason to interpret and defend key beliefs in Christian tradition against this problem, with Augustine positing evil as merely the absence of good, rather than a substantive entity created by God.