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DOI
10.4324/9780415249126-L022-1
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DOI: 10.4324/9780415249126-L022-1
Version: v1,  Published online: 1998
Retrieved March 28, 2024, from https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/thematic/evil/v-1

4. Evil as a contrast necessary for the good

Another attempt to account for evil is the Leibnizian view that recognizes its reality, but argues that the evil that exists is the minimum necessary for the existence of the good, which far outweighs the amount of evil there is (see Leibniz 1710). Evil is thus seen as the cost of the great benefits the good provides (see Leibniz, G.W. §3). The assumption behind this view is that the good could exist only in contrast with evil. But whatever is true of phenomena requiring contrasting aspects, it is not true of good and evil. It is absurd to suppose that there can be kindness only if there is cruelty, or freedom only if there is tyranny. Defenders of this view therefore tend towards an epistemological sense of the contrast: evil is said to be required so that the good could be appreciated as good. The difficulty with this is that even if a contrast were necessary for appreciation, drawing it would not require the existence of evil. The good could be properly appreciated even in contrast with imaginative depictions of evil. It is, for instance, unnecessary to have people actually drawn and quartered in order to maintain a lively appreciation of one’s good health. Nor is it required for the appreciation of the good that it be contrasted with evil, since the neutral or the indifferent would serve as a contrast just as well. People’s dying in their sleep, without being tortured to death, is sufficient to enhance one’s appreciation of the good of being alive.

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Citing this article:
Kekes, John. Evil as a contrast necessary for the good. Evil, 1998, doi:10.4324/9780415249126-L022-1. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Taylor and Francis, https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/thematic/evil/v-1/sections/evil-as-a-contrast-necessary-for-the-good.
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