Viruses as "Non-Entities" for a Proper Understanding Evil
A virus is not a living organism because it cannot "multiply without hijacking the reproductive machinery of a cell," says scientist Edgar Andrews in his book, Who Made God?* A virus is in contrast to a single biological cell, what Andrews and the rest of the scientific community (most notably, geneticist and evolutionary biologist John Haldane [1892-1964] ) call a 'minimal organism.' A minimal organism is able to replicate itself, but a virus, considered not a living organism and not 'truly alive', can only replicate itself by attacking a living organism. Isn't evil similar to this?
Philosophers and theologians have often regarded evil as a privation of the good. It is a marring, or distortion of what is good. Evil destroys life, even as it (evil) prospers, much like a virus. Evil, as a "non-living" entity, latches onto the good, and perverts it. By contrast, evil does have a positive aspect to it, as free agents engage in actions which are described as moral evil. However, evil, like the rotting of an apple, is the decay of that which is good, proper and whole.
*Edgar Andrews, Who Made God? Searching for a Theory of Everything, (Faverdale North, Darlington, England: EP Books), 2009, p. 179.
Philosophers and theologians have often regarded evil as a privation of the good. It is a marring, or distortion of what is good. Evil destroys life, even as it (evil) prospers, much like a virus. Evil, as a "non-living" entity, latches onto the good, and perverts it. By contrast, evil does have a positive aspect to it, as free agents engage in actions which are described as moral evil. However, evil, like the rotting of an apple, is the decay of that which is good, proper and whole.
*Edgar Andrews, Who Made God? Searching for a Theory of Everything, (Faverdale North, Darlington, England: EP Books), 2009, p. 179.
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