Między teorią prywacyjną a teorią zła radykalnego. Johna Milbanka krytyka pozytywnej ontologii zła
Between the ‘Privation Theory’ and the ‘Theory of Radical Evil’: John Milbank’s Critique of a Positive Ontology of Evil

Summary/Abstract: The article is devoted to an analysis of John Milbank’s thought in the context of the contemporary debate on the ontology of evil. Milbank puts forward a controversial thesis that the modern positive ontology of evil contributed to the unprecedented evil of the 20th century. He sees the philosophical roots of this ontology in the theory of radical evil developed by Immanuel Kant, Friedrich W. J. Schelling, Martin Heidegger, and Jean-Luc Nancy. The main object of Milbank’s criticism is the notion of a positive existence of evil. As he argues, it leads to a justification of evil and to an acceptance of the necessity of evil. I compare his view with Alain Badiou’s critique of the human rights’ ethics and Hannah Arendt’s concept of the banality of the evil. Against this background, Milbank’s radical position is made visible. According to Milbank, only the privation theory, which denies an existence and causality of evil, enables us to recognize evil and take full responsibility for it. Moreover, the English theologian argues that the privation theory cannot be secularized. This leads him to the conclusion that only Christianity can guarantee the ontological priority of the good and harmony necessary for the construction of a just society.

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