Kierkegaard's Analysis of Radical Evil

Book excerpt: For thousands of years philosophers and theologians have grappled with the problem of evil. Traditionally, evil has been seen as a weakness of sorts: the evil person is either ignorant, or weak-willed. But in the most horrifying acts of evil, the perpetrators are resolute, deliberate, and well aware of the pain they are causing. Here David Roberts painstakingly details the matrix of issues that evolved into Kierkegaard's own solution. Kierkegaard's psychological understanding of evil is that it arises out of despair - a despair that can become so vehement and ferocious that it lashes out at existence itself. Roberts shows how the despairing self can become strengthened and intensified through a conscious and free choice against the Good. This type of radical evil is neither ignorant nor weak.