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Steven Paulikas

Steven Paulikas Quotes

Total quotes: 3

Steven Paulikas

Birthname

Total quotes: 3

“Evil is not a thing per se, but rather exists in a sort of black hole of thought, an aporia. This fact alone complicates arguments for the destruction of evil: how do you obliterate something that has no substance?”

— Steven Paulikas, How Should We Respond to ‘Evil’?

“In the common conception, solutions to evil require retribution, and the most obvious way to achieve retribution is through violence. Responses, on the other hand, engender what Ricoeur calls ‘wisdom,’ an unwavering commitment to relieve and prevent suffering. Any violence used in a response to evil would, therefore, be focused on the alleviation of suffering rather than the attempt to stamp out evil where we think we see it.”

— Steven Paulikas, How Should We Respond to ‘Evil’?

“We conceive of evil through the realm of myth, or grand narratives that express common human experience. Myth is not false; rather, it encapsulates truth about subjects like evil that cannot be perceived fully through reason alone. In this sense, ‘the axis of evil’ is, arguably, a kind of myth, an explanation that makes sense of calamity in a world we think of as otherwise good and in which we can all participate.”

— Steven Paulikas, How Should We Respond to ‘Evil’?

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