Evil
This theme runs through several big questions. Here are the ones where it plays out.
The questions that illuminate it
Are human beings fundamentally good or inclined toward evil?
To believe humans good is to be able to trust them, loosen the rules, bet on freedom; to believe them prone to evil is to deem laws, controls, and safeguards necessary to hold common life together. To take a position is to say how far to trust others, and how many constraints a society needs.
Should forgiveness be unconditional, or does it depend on the wrongdoer's repentance?
Forgiving without condition can free the victim, but seems to wipe away the wrong and ask nothing of the offender; reserving it for repentance preserves justice, but chains the one who suffered to the other's remorse. To take a position is to say whether forgiveness is a gift one grants oneself or a debt the guilty must first redeem.
Why punish: to repay the wrong, to deter, or to rehabilitate?
Punishing to make the guilty pay can be mere vengeance dressed as justice; punishing only to deter or for efficiency can sacrifice the offender to the common good. Depending on the answer, the penalty looks toward a past to settle or a future to protect. To take a position is to say what we are really doing when we punish.
Can violence be legitimate?
In the face of aggression, injustice, and oppression, resort to force always ends up presenting itself, as a temptation or a necessity. Refusing all violence on principle, admitting it as a last resort under strict rules, treating it as the ordinary instrument of politics, or seeing in it the oppressed's path to liberation: each answer commits a conception of morality, power, and history.
Is evil compatible with a good and all-powerful God?
The suffering of the innocent is the harshest test for anyone who believes in a good and all-powerful God. Before it, four paths part ways: justifying evil, giving up divine omnipotence, refusing all justification, or concluding that no such God exists. To take a position is to say whether faith can stand before misfortune, and at what cost.