Walter Okshevsky wrote: "I confess I may not understand the concept of "evil" that Phil's vocabulary of thinking/reasoning is riding on and, hence, I end up misunderstanding his claims. (That word seems to inhabit the same language as the word "sin.") I can only understand "evil" as meaning moral impermissibility or moral wrongness." One way of differentiating sin and evil, following Augustine and Aquinas, is that sin pertains to the will and evil to the substance of the action. It is possible to be morally culpable for merely intending to do something wrong. Here the emphasis falls on the intent. We also have some actions which are considered wrong in themselves. Here the emphasis falls on the action. In the case of war, it is evil. Under very particular conditions regarding intention, one might be justified in going to war, but war remains evil. Sincerely, Phil Enns Toronto, ON ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html