Where Does Evil Come From - Is Proclus Right ? - Or Darth Vader ?

 

From:  Life Choices - Important tips from Socrates, Plato and Aristotle

By James Head (New Edition – June 2020 https://www.amazon.com/dp/1540552624 )

From Essay 2 - The Nuts and Bolts of Plato

…….. My final point in this section on metaphysics is that Plato believes that the universe and everything in it has been created or has flowed out of the one source of everything, which is beyond all description, and which he calls ‘the One’ and/or ‘the Good’. This of course is an interesting idea for a man like Plato who was born and brought up as a polytheist to believe in the Olympic religion with many Gods. One thing I also find particularly interesting here (and a little irritating if I am honest) is that although he says that the One is beyond all description (in an almost scientific way) he then describes the One as the Good, which kind of adds a religious kind of dimension or overtone to it all. Plato also says that everything that flows out of the One is also good and perfect, but the further away things get from the One (the source of all things) the less perfect they become.

If everything that flows out of the One is good and perfect, then why is there evil and suffering in the world you may ask? Socrates advises us in many of his conversations with people, that it is wise before you start to discuss something, that you define exactly what you mean by the term being discussed - i.e. evil in this case. Is it a divine and malignant force operating in the universe (as suggested in the Star Wars movies or some major organised religions today) that affects us all if we are not very careful; or is it simply when human beings make badly judged, selfish, or irrational actions?

 For example, when a lioness jumps on an antelope and savagely kills it to feed her cubs, we usually do not regard that as evil at all; we just think of this as part of ‘nature’. However, when a man kills his neighbour for no apparent reason, of course we are shocked and consider it in some way an evil thing to do, since we consider the human being to be a civilised creature, capable of rational choices, and therefore having the facility to choose to act wisely and decently towards other people. So in a Platonic world view, evil (which is mainly what we tend to call certain ways of behaving) is really a lack of good intent or action, or the lack of control over one’s desires, or in the case of a madman – the lack of a correctly functioning rational mind.

Similarly, and more simply perhaps, if an earthquake kills 200 people, again we do not regard it as evil – just an act of nature; whereas the religious fanatic that blows up a passenger plane with 200 people on board we ‘regard’ as evil; since he lacks moderation in his religious beliefs and actions. Note that moderation (or temperance) is the visible expression of ‘The Good’, and as far as we human beings are concerned, largely concerned with the Life Choices we make.

I think as philosophers we need to consider whether good and evil really are external forces acting in the world around us (or even throughout the universe), or are they simply just human qualities; since we all seem to have the possibility of good and evil choices and actions within us. Hopefully, we choose ‘good’ (or at least ‘relatively good’) actions over evil ones. However, sometimes the situation gets a little blurred since if you killed 10 enemy soldiers in a war you might well receive a medal from your government for doing so. On the other hand, were you to kill the same 10 soldiers after the war had ended as they enjoyed a drink and discussed old stories of the war, you would no doubt be arrested and put on trial for murder.

Somehow, I want to believe in evil as an external force (you can blame the movie Star Wars and Darth Vader for that), but at times I am really not convinced whether evil is an external force or not. Sometimes I cannot help but wonder if the whole idea of ‘evil’ is a man-made concept rather than any external force operating in the universe; which we need to do our utmost to avoid. As far as our practical lives are concerned (in our human bodies at least), good and evil may be simply be about the choices we make as individuals and communities; and the choices and decisions our leaders and organisations of influence (e.g. the banks, the media, the Justice Department, and other powerful bodies) make on our behalf. Nevertheless, most organised religions with influence in our modern world today promote the idea of evil as being some kind of divine power, and give various explanations of how it came into being in the first place (fallen angles etc), and how it operates - and who it operates on and through. What do you think? (My concern is that evil is usually thought of as being abstract and ‘out there’ somewhere – when in fact it is all around us, and manifests itself in very ordinary things like: people selling us stuff we do not need and getting people into debt, a culture of fear and insecurity, a reduction in quality leisure time, wars we do not really need, good people turning a blind eye to what they know is very wrong, and  the corruption and dumbing down of young minds. I refer to these things as ‘the circles of evil’.

We all need to try and make sense of the universe, our place within it, and why things happen the way they do all around us. Therefore, if someone prefers to think of ‘evil’ as an external force (as indeed it may well be although I have expressed some personal doubts above on this), and this helps them to deal with and understand things better, and make better life choices as a result, then I see no harm per se in that.

According to the latter Neo Platonist Proclus in his essay ‘On the Subsistence of Evil’ (Proclus’ Theology of Plato - Book I Chapter XVII), once the unfolding of the One or the Good gets as far as producing a temporal universe full of time-bound lives (like ours), then it will be necessary that temporal things come to an end. This, according to Proclus (and remember there is controversy about some of the Neo Platonist explanations of Plato’s texts) explains why our physical bodies eventually fail. It is in order to make room for further bodies to take their place; and this is not evil in itself. However, if a perpetual thing such as a human soul (in Plato's view at least) identifies itself with a temporal physical body; then the process of decay and death ‘appears’ like an evil to that individual. However, perhaps this is a mistake of perspective, since no harm can really come to a soul from the demise of the physical body. Indeed, the only real harm that can come to us (that is, our souls if we have one) is through our own acts of injustice which is a ‘disease of the soul’. Proclus calls the first kind of evil ‘natural’ and not really evil at all, and the second kind unnatural, since in his view it can only be the result of a creature with free will acting ignorantly or irrationally.......

 

Footnote:

If you find this subject interesting check out my earlier post (23rd June 2018 - see archive) on this subject that includes some additional points for consideration. 

I particular I mention:

          ‘Additionally, if good and evil are in some way linked (as are pain and pleasure as previously discussed above regarding the removal of Socrates chains) it would suggest that all of us have the potential for evil thoughts and deeds unless we are careful with our thoughts and actions - and have control and discipline over our desires, tempers, and other emotions. We might do well therefore, to consider ways that encourage us and help us to keep our emotions under control; and how to avoid things that slowly lead us towards bad and evil acts. For example, the police officer who accepts a small bribe this month from a drug dealer for a small favour- is likely to find him or herself is at risk a month or 2 later of being forced to take another bribe for a much more serious favour. The person who makes small false declarations with their company expenses this month, is more likely in a month or 2 to make bigger force declarations - and risk losing their good name, job and most importantly for philosophers – VIRTUE.

       In my view, we have to be real careful about things that tempt us towards small acts of badness or corruption, since these small steps lead us down the start of a path that may be difficult to stop once we had started.

       As in Plato’s Phaedrus - the charioteer must try to use the horse which is good and noble, rather than that which is ugly, selfish, brutish, and bad in every other way.’