tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post7522534511463136374..comments2023-07-05T08:17:21.505-04:00Comments on Getting to the Point: An Anatomy of Good and EvilFr. Denis Lemieuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01049723287624178155noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-386695367362961722015-02-03T19:50:08.101-05:002015-02-03T19:50:08.101-05:00If for any human being, "moral evaluation&quo...If for any human being, "moral evaluation" is as simple as following a will well informed by reason then there is no need for God , only a formula.<br />Aristotle , however, tells us that evil is the absence of good. i.e. a thing that lacks the good proper to its natural function as an eye that lacks the function of sight is said to be evil - not in the moral sense of course. He also tells us that every human activity is directed at achieving it's own good - i.e. it's most fundamental good ( to be happy.) Desire he says is the natural tendency and inclination in a thing toward it's own good. Happiness which is not a state of being but rather an activity of the soul in accordance with virtue. Virtue implies an excellence ...in reality experienced by human beings in a very wide range of varying degree. His ethics of desire and virtue are crucial to understanding that while their absence would imply an 'evil lurking' they are never totally absent but often hidden behind barriers created in a very natural response ( eg defense mechanisms) that each and everyone of us are subjected to in some ways and others. If we could stop the focus on the 'evil act', forget for awhile about 'morally evaluating' and judging one another's actions and help one another to reveal what's good and beautiful in us, then I believe ,like Jean Vanier does, that we can gradually grow together in love and unity as we find our deepest desire to be happy (blessed}. We will never stop sacrificing our deepest desire to our superficial ones unless we discover what our deepest desire is.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02864165383284480893noreply@blogger.com