Anthropodicy: The Problem of Human Evil
Explanations for human evil include:
- Presence of an evil inclination as well as an inclination to good
inthe human person (Jewish rabbinic psychology; Freud's Thanatos/Eros
hasa certain resemblance to this)
- Original Sin (see, e.g., Romans Ch. 7)
- Inertia/laziness (see M. Scott Peck's The Road Less Travelled.
- Various social psychological dynamics gone awry (for material
suggestiveof this, see Robert Cialdini's Influence).
- Ernest Becker's theory of death denial and heroic nisus (see,
e.g.,Denial of Death and Escape from Evil.
- Vonnegut's Mother Night suggest that the tendency to
demonizeothers is the source of great evil.