Someone once said that evil is not born but made.

If we were to look at the empirical facts rationally it

could certainly be argued that every lawbreaker is a product of the influence of his or her community
and their misgivings. So, if the society around us lacks morale and acts in certain way that is
detrimental for the overall society, at best a person raised in a society as such will become morally
ambiguous. But, this essay is not aiming to discuss certain cases or case studies. This is just the first
impression and response of reading the given quote by Augustine of Hippo that states: „Evil is nothing
but the privation of good.”.

What interests us in writing about in this essay concerns not the subjective examples of evil, but the
Evil altogether, in general. What produced it, or the was cause of it? And the main question: “In which
way does Evil relate to God?”. The great Christian philosopher, St. Augustine of Hippo uttered the
infamous quote which states that Evil is nothing but something that fills the void when there is none,
or not enough good in that location. Or that is to be understood from the quote: „Evil is nothing but
the privation of good.”.

But, can the quote actually be considered that straightforward? Or, could Augustine´s theory provide
some moreover depth to shine the light over the problem of evil and maybe even provide a well-
founded solution to it. The best way to examine the validity of the concept of Evil based on Augustine
´s theory is to reconsider his writings on the ambiguous topic as well as the circumstances that
surround his writing and personal life.

Augustine, also known as St. Augustine a famous philosopher and theologian was born and raised in
the spirit of Christianity at the second half of the 4 th century A.D., if it is to believe New Advent, a
religious encyclopaedia focused mainly on Christianity. 1 According to them Augustine´s mother,
Monica reverted her husband to Christianity and endorsed her son´s religious upbringing from a young
age. Even though his indoctrination in the ways of the Church started very early, Augustine rebelled
and questioned his faith. He was taking it with a grain of salt, which in some way we can relate to a
great philosopher who lived centuries later, Baruch de Spinoza. Unlike Augustine, Spinoza went quite
over the edge of the cliff.2 Augustine rebelled but he also returned like a sheep that just went a bit
astray, even though it took years for him to reach it. 3

1
Portalié, Eugène. "Life of St. Augustine of Hippo." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Robert
Appleton Company, 1907. Accessed August 15, 2018, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02084a.htm
2
Baruch de Spinoza
3
Sažeti text
Once he reached the level of profound spirituality that pleased his mother, the level she wanted to
embed into him from the start, he provided us with a rich heritage of written works. 4 His opus consists
of a great number of published texts that fill a list too long to type it all out, but his most famous and
most important works consist of three texts: ”Confessions of St. Augustine”, “City of God” and “On
Christian Doctrine”.

The infamous quote can be read out amongst the lines of the Confessions and when we look through
certain passages such as the next one, Augustine´s look on evil becomes quite clearer and more
understandable. It gives us quite a bit of material to discuss and argue about in this essay.

Evil, then, the origin of which I had been seeking, has no substance at all; for if it
were a substance, it would be good. For either it would be an incorruptible substance
and so a supreme good, or a corruptible substance, which could not be corrupted
unless it were good.5

This citation, alongside the rest of the chapter XII from book VII of Augustine´s confessions aims to
force us to accept his imperative that God created everything,

To thee there is no such thing as evil, and even in thy whole creation taken as a whole,
there is not; because there is nothing from beyond it that can burst in and destroy the
order which thou hast appointed for it. But in the parts of creation, some things,
because they do not harmonize with others, are considered evil. Yet those same things
harmonize with others and are good, and in themselves are good. …6

Augustine's contention is exceptionally straightforward. He trusts that there are numerous things in the
world that we mark yet that don't exist all by themselves. We should also take into consideration that
Augustine perceives the impacts of Evil in the world, he essentially denies that it has a presence all by
itself.

Augustine is quick to exonorate God of any obligation regarding the presence of Evil on the planet.
One manner by which he does this is to deny that Evil has a genuine presence by any means.
Augustine reasons that Evil isn't a thing all by itself. In this way God can't be considered in charge of
making something that doesn't really exist. This is really an extremely astute contention. On the off
chance that Evil does not exist, at that point the legitimate issue of Evil breaks down. Additionally, it is
good with the Genesis creation account in which God makes an ideal heaven without Evil.

4
Neo-Platonism
5
Augustine, Confessions, Book VII (chapters 11-13). Translated by Albert C. Outler (1955).
6
Augustine, Confessions, Book VII (chapters 11-13). Translated by Albert C. Outler (1955).
What if we tried to put different states through the logic that Augustine applied to Evil. For example,
darkness isn't a thing all by itself, yet the nonattendance of light. What about coldness? That is the
nonattendance of warmth. Sickness is the nonattendance of wellbeing, and obliviousness the
nonappearance of information. None of these words have a presence all by themselves. Or maybe,
they are labels connected to the nonattendance of another property.

Augustine applies this rationale to Evil. It does not exist autonomous of whatever else. Or maybe, it is
just the absence of the good. In theory, it is imperative to be exceptionally exact with words. So we
don't discuss Evil just like an absence of good, or a nonappearance of good. Rather, we talk about it as
a privation.