Evil as Privation?

[ApostolicClementines]

Hi there,

Is there a philosophical means of providing that evil is, as the Scholastics claim, only ever a privation? I’m curious about this in relation to so called evil-God arguments, and also what it means for being and goodness to be on and the same thing.

Thanks a lot!

Clem

 

[Trojan_Horse]

So, I’m a little confused about what you’re asking, but I can at least try my best:
Privation, as I understand, is the loss of an original quality. In the beginning, man was made good, but sin (which is evil), caused us to lose this original good. Our goodness was not entirely removed or destroyed, but it was significantly damaged, such that we now live with the stain of concupiscence. So if sin is the corruption of a good, our committing of sin is a corruption of the good within ourselves, and thus is a privation of the good we are meant to have, a good we “lose” by sin.
Or, in other words, sin corrupts our original goodness, and thus causes us to lose the original quality of our goodness. Each sin we commit damages this goodness more.
I am not saying sin caused humanity to be devoid of goodness, it just damaged the goodness we are meant to have.