Evil Might Be a Form of Nothingness
October 2, 2025โข341 words
โEvil has no positive nature; but the loss of good has received the name โevil.โโ - St. Augustine
โEvil denotes the privation of good. It is not an essence, but a defect of essence.โ - Thomas Aquinas
โWhoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster.โ - Friedrich Nietzsche
The radical idea that evil doesn't exist at all is put forth by one of the most ancient and significant philosophical theories. The "privation theory," which was developed by St. Augustine, contends that evil is not a positive force or substance that exists independently. Rather, it is the "privation" of good, its absence, or its corruption. Evil is a void where goodness should be, much like darkness is just the absence of light or illness is a lack of health. According to this perspective, cruelty occurs when compassion fails to function as it ought to.
However, this concept encounters what philosophers refer to as the "specificity problem." How does evil result in highly specific, intentional, and complex acts if it is only an absence? When there is no light, the darkness is uniform rather than complex and shadowy. However, an elaborate act of evil, like a complex international crime against humanity exhibits distinct, deliberate, and even imaginative characteristics that appear to call for a constructive, guiding force. How can something so complex and determinate come from nothingness?
This shocking idea contradicts our natural tendency to view evil as a dynamic, potent force. It presents it in a different light as a failure, a corruption, or a flaw in the moral foundation of reality. The inability to logically explain how this "nothing" can result in so much "something" exposes a fundamental flaw in our conception of evil itself. This conceptual instability shows that our idea of evil might be internally contradictory, referring to something that is incompatible with our usual conception of it. Especially when world leaders such as USA Trump and Israeli Netanyahu have such twisted views of their own actions.