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Privation as ontic principle of evil

Author(s): Gintautas Vyšniauskas
Subject(s): Education
Published by: Vytauto Didžiojo Universitetas

Summary/Abstract: In ancient (Plato, Aquinas) as well as in postmodern (Levinas) philosophy the problem of evil involves metaphysical and ethical considerations. The article mostly deals with the metaphysical aspects of evil: with the privation as its principle. It concentrates on the conception of evil as it is presented in Thomas Aquinas' early works De Principiis Naturae and Sum-ma Contra Gentiles. The results of inquiry allow to conclude that with some qualifications privation can be regarded as an ontic principle of evil. Its onticity rests on the two other principles: matter and form and belongs to privation as to the necessary principle of generation and corruption, i.e. of the nature's (which is understood as process) being which necessarily generates evil.

  • Issue Year: 2004
  • Issue No: 71
  • Page Range: 37-40
  • Page Count: 4
  • Language: Lithuanian