evil

evil antithesis of good. The philosophical problem of evil is most simply stated in the question, why does evil exist in the world? Death, disease, and sin are often included in the problem. Traditional Christian belief ascribes evil to the misdeeds of humans, to whom God has granted free will . The Christian systems that believe in predestination and justification by faith claim, like their Christian opponents, that God is still not the author of the evil men do. One explanation of evil is dualism , as in Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism . In optimism evil is treated often as more apparent than real. The book of Job is a literary treatment of the problem.

Bibliography: See R. Taylor, Good and Evil (1970); F. Sontag, The God of Evil (1970); R. Stivers, Evil in Modern Myth and Ritual (1982); D. Parkin, ed., The Anthropology of Evil (1987).

evil adj. and sb. OE. yfel = OS. ubil, MDu. evel (Du. euvel), OHG. ubil (G. übel), Goth. ubils :- Gmc. *ubilaz, prob. f. IE. base *up- (see OVER), the primary sense being ‘exceeding due limits’.
So evil adv., OE. yfle; survives in literary use in speak evil (of), evil-disposed, and the like.

Evil. The furthest reach of wrongdoing and wrong being. Although Kant maintained that the only evil thing is an evil will, there is much in human experience which evokes the word which is not a product of the will. Indeed, Hannah Arendt, observing the Eichmann trial, spoke of the banality of evil, lying as it does so far outside the compass of will, and being ‘excused’ by the appeal that, in a totalitarian regime, to obey orders and not to think is the only behaviour possible. Religions tend to see the occurrence of evil as the consequence of personal agency in the cosmic order (personified as Satan, the Devil or Iblīs, Māra, etc.), which if made absolute leads to dualism, an eternal principle of evil; and in either case, religions offer resources both to recognize and combat evil.

See also THEODICY; EVIL, PROBLEM OF.