On the Good and the less good

[boccaderlupo]

"And even he that desires the basest life, yet in so far as he feels desire at all and feels desire for life, and intends what he thinks is the best kind of life, so far participates in the Good." —Dionysius the Areopagite, The Divine Names, translated by C.E. Rolt

Comments

[brenainn]

This reminds me of a discussion between Jordan Peterson and Bishop Robert Barron. Bishop Barron maintained that even a person who seeks evil is doing so out of the mistaken assumption that the evil they seek is a good thing. Dr. Peterson contested that idea, and it was an interesting discussion between two of my favorite public intellectuals.

[boccaderlupo]

I've reflected on this some more while reading Pseudo-Dionysius (and concurrently reviewing Russell's four-part series on the nature of evil). I can see both sides. Russell makes an important distinction between the ontological nature of evil and the moral evils we are more familiar with in the world. Metaphysically, then, we may regard evil as a deficit of The Good. But in the real world, there are absolutely people out there who desire evil (they are "male-volent," in that they desire evil (volere male)). So to Dionysius's point, insofar as they exhibit desire, this is in itself intrinsically (ontologically) an expression of The Good at work--however their desires may result in real (moral) evil (that is, suffering) for those of us living in the real (sublunar) world. That's my take, anyways.