Abstract

There is a general consensus that the concept of "absolute evil" was coined in order to account for the moral atrocities of the twentieth century. The connotations associated with such a concept are usually threefold: such an evil is not to be understood negatively as a privation of goodness, but as a positive force; such an evil can not be accommodated into any onto-theological order of being, but rather refers to the collapse of such an order; such an evil is diabolical, motivated by the negation of moral law as such, and not by the pursuit of egoistic interests. Moreover, there is a general consensus that Kant's concept of "radical evil" is not radical enough to approximate to this excess of evil, specially since Kant categorically denies the possibility of devilishness. The purpose of this paper is to question this consensus. On the one hand, it is doubtful whether demonic interpretations can provide us with a deeper insight in the moral horrors of the twentieth century. They rather relieve us of our responsibilities, because they withdraw evil from our everyday experiences of weakness. On the other hand, it can be shown that Kant's idea of radical evil, notwithstanding his rejection of the demonic, is much more disturbing than is generally admitted: evil originates in an act of freedom, not in being overwhelmed by desire; the evil of hatred is already prefigurated in the banal evil of indifference; evil is enracinated in a "moral state of nature", where we can only develop our self-respect by continuously comparing ourselves with others, thus initiating ruthless forms of competition. The conclusion proposes to radicalize Kant's notion of evil, not in the direction of a demonic connotation, but in a direction indicated by Levinas: by referring to the experience of the victim. Only confronted with the suffering of others that is caused by me, my moral failure appears to be more than lack or privation: it is inherently excessive, since the victim experiences its own suffering as an intrinsic malignity that can not be accommodated into any order of being