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Full Idea
Four inadequate explanations of human evil attribute it to natural causes, moral monsters, uncharacteristic actions, and corrupting social conditions.
Gist of Idea
Evil isn't explained by nature, by monsters, by uncharacteristic actions, or by society
Source
John Kekes (The Human Condition [2010], 06.3)
Book Ref
Kekes,John: 'The Human Condition' [OUP 2010], p.122
A Reaction
He is addressing the 'secular problem of evil', which arises if you assume that human beings are essentially good, and then look around you. He says evil explains corrupting social conditions, so we can't be circular about it.
| 552 | Empedocles said good and evil were the basic principles [Empedocles, by Aristotle] |
| 202 | No one willingly and knowingly embraces evil [Plato] |
| 23363 | The evil for everything is what is contrary to its nature [Epictetus] |
| 17224 | If our ideas were wholly adequate, we would have no concept of evil [Spinoza] |
| 19340 | Metaphysical evil is imperfection; physical evil is suffering; moral evil is sin [Leibniz] |
| 23762 | Evil is transmitted by comforts and pleasures, but mostly by doing harm to people [Weil] |
| 23088 | Evil is not deviation from the good, any more than good is a deviation from evil [Kekes] |
| 20162 | Evil isn't explained by nature, by monsters, by uncharacteristic actions, or by society [Kekes] |
| 15190 | Evil can't be an illusion, because then the illusion that there is evil would be evil [Le Poidevin] |