Evil is the word we use for the worst kinds of wrongdoing. It goes beyond mere harm. It suggests intentional cruelty, a will to destroy, a violation of something sacred. Philosophers have debated whether evil is a positive force or a privation, the absence of good. Augustine held the latter: evil has no substance of its own. It is a turning away from God, a corruption of what is good. Others treat evil as a real feature of the world, not just a lack.

The problem of evil is one of the oldest arguments against the existence of God. If God is all-powerful and all-good, why does evil exist? Responses include the free will defense, which says evil is the price of genuine freedom; the soul-making theodicy, which says suffering builds character; and the skeptical response, which says we cannot judge God's reasons. The problem remains live in philosophy of religion. Secular philosophers study evil in terms of moral psychology, asking how ordinary people commit atrocities. Hannah Arendt's phrase "the banality of evil" captured the idea that great harm can come from thoughtlessness, not monstrous intent.

Approaches to evil

• Privation. Evil is the absence of good.
• Dualism. Evil is a force opposed to good.
• Theodicy. Justifying God in the face of evil.
• Moral psychology. How people come to do evil.

Evil is a morally loaded term. Calling something evil is not just describing it. It is condemning it.