The phenomenon of evil in the philosophical concepts of the European Middle Ages

Abstract

The object of this research is the heritage of the leading representatives of Medieval philosophy, while the subject is the philosophical ideas of the prominent representatives of Patristic and Scholastic philosophy upon the nature of evil. The goal of this work lies in giving holistic assessment to the philosophical ideas on the phenomenon of evil in the Middle Ages, and is achieved by solving the following tasks: 1) assessment of the concept of “the first sin” as the foundation for understanding the phenomenon of evil in Medieval philosophy; 2) determination of the genesis of philosophical ideas of the Middle Ages pertaining to the nature of evil in the logical-historical aspect; 3) description of the impact of such ideas upon further development of the Western European philosophy. The scientific novelty consists in comprehensive examination of the Medieval philosophical concepts dedicated to the phenomenon of evil. In Christianity, evil is viewed as essentially historical phenomenon, stemming from the event of the first sin and being conquered by the will of God. Medieval philosophers underlined the need for determining the ontology of evil, which is called to answer the question on the nature of evil and the role of evil in the universe. Medieval philosophers were also concerned with the problem of Theodicy, i.e. why a good God permits the manifestation of evil. The representatives of Patristic and Scholastic philosophy reasoned over the moral aspect in interpretation of evil, trying to correlate the phenomenon of evil with the free will of a human. The ideas of evil as the absence of good prevailed in the Christian philosophy, which viewed the phenomenon of evil as opposite to being, nothingness. Medieval concepts on the phenomenon of evil had a considerable spiritual and sociocultural impact upon the views of the leading representatives of German idealism, who have embraced not so much the assuredness of Medieval Christian philosophers that evil is the absence of good, but the idea on the equality of good and evil as the fundamentals of the universe and the components of human nature.