Test 2 – Gloria a Dios

Evil

In which sense we may say that evil is good

Note. Most of this essay is based on the teachings of Thomas Aquinas, in Summa Theologica, Q 19, art 9; Q 48, art 1, 5; Q 14, art 10. This essay presents his doctrine in easier and more intelligible terms.

Evil is always a privation, privation of something due; it is the lack of something. Thomas says that this could be seen in two ways: as the lack of a due quality or property as, for instance, blindness which is the privation of vision; or as the privation of a due operation or act as, for instance, the lack of morality in a fault or sin.

Evil, as the privation of something due, does not exist as a being; it is the negation of due existence; but the fact that something is lacking, is also an act, and as such, it is a being; and every being, as being, is good. Only in this sense we may say that evil is good.

Why evil

God could have created a different world, in which everything would have been good, with no evil of any kind, in particular without any fault and sin, which are the worst evil and the one that most people hate. But that world would miss much of the good of the present world, as human freedom, which surpasses the evil. It is not possible to have these two worlds together.

The evil of nature

In other words, the good of this universe and of human race, is overwhelmingly greater than the consequences of its evil. The evils of nature, as the ones mentioned above, are part of the whole order of nature and willed by God. That is why we have earthquakes and hurricanes, or deformities or malfunctions in corporeal beings and human bodies.

Some of Thomas Aquinas’ reflections on evil

Thomas has some profound reflections on evil. He says that “good and appetible are of the same nature” (Q 5 art 1), that is, that good and desirable are similar, in the sense that nothing is desired or wished, unless it is seen as something good. Since evil is opposed to good, nobody appetizes privation or corruption by itself, but accidentally, under the appearance that is good or pleasurable; as when the thief desires his object, or the fornicator desires his sin; they do it as looking for some good. It is impossible that the evil is sought as evil, but only as good; even animals do so, as when the lion kills a stag, his object is food, not the killing of an animal.