ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses a dual concept of evil to the three relations which constitute the environmental crisis: local evil denotes particular situations where unjustified suffering exists. Cosmic evil refers to the question of the normative assessment of the universe in which local evil can exist. The question is posed: can one both resist local evil and accept a universe which contains local evil? This question is applied to relations between humanity and nature, within nature itself, and the way human actions on nature affect other humans. The chapter offers an essentially spiritual account, centered on the role of traditional and contemporary spiritual virtues as a response to the local evil of the environmental crisis; and as a way to appreciate the miracle of life. In cosmic evil one recognizes each particular example of local evil as something, which of course he/she would like to lessen or eliminate, but whose general presence is guaranteed by both biological and specifically human nature.