Evil as Privation: A Conversation with Pierce Alexander Marks

About this episode

The episode explores the nature of evil through a conversation with philosopher Pierce Marks, focusing on the concept of evil as a lack of good.

What kind of thing is evil? If all being is good, where does disorder come from? Can evil have reality without being a substance? In this episode, we talk with philosopher Pierce Marks about his paper "Evil as Privation: Its True Meaning and Import." We discuss the Platonic roots of the view that evil is a lack of the good, the distinction between "mere" and "depraved" privations, and whether natural evils like death or predation are genuine evils or part of the world's perfection.

People in this episode

Host: Samuel Walker Bennett

Guest: Pierce Alexander Marks

Topics covered

• evil
• philosophy
• Platonic roots
• privation
• natural evils
• good and evil

Keywords

• evil
• privation
• philosophy
• good
• natural evils
• death
• predation

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Evil as Privation: Its True Meaning and Import

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