The choice of two evils: what is this choice?

The choice is always difficult to make. And even more so, if you have to choose their two evils. Everyone knows this phrase. About it will be discussed in our article.

Evil. What is it?

Strange formulation of the issue - choose from two evils. What is valuable can be in evil? In fact, people are used to overcoming obstacles in their lives, solving problems and struggling with difficulties. Evil is a common concept that unites any difficulties, problems and vicissitudes that arise naturally.

This may be some kind of danger of any origin, but it does not necessarily have to endanger life. That is, evil in the famous phraseology is called everything that is not pleasant and comfortable for a person.

Historical digression

From history it becomes clear that for a long time people have chosen from several evils that they began to make such a decision even in ancient times. The phrase had different variants.

Aristotle (ancient Greece, 384 BC) wrote in his work "Nicomachean ethics" about the need to choose "the lesser of evils."

It is known that Cicero, who also lived BC (43) wrote that it is important to choose the lesser of evils and find something good in it (the work "On duties").

There is an ancient proverb for the English, here is its approximate translation: "Of the two negative options one must choose one that is less bad."

The Russian Tsar Peter I (in 1711) used the expression "choose the lesser of two evils" in one of his letters to Apraksin, the Russian commander.

Also, the proverb about the choice of two evils is in the Russian dictionary of Dal (1853).

Philosophical approach

And why do you need to take evil at all? The fact is that from a philosophical point of view, a person always has a choice. Desperate situations do not exist at all.

Ancient wisdom brought to us the idea of the power of the mind of man. He is able to make decisions in his favor (for survival) in any situation. And if several evils arise, what can prevent the brain from choosing? Nothing, this is the law of nature. Otherwise, a person as a species would have disappeared long ago, like many living organisms that existed earlier on Earth.

There are variants of reasoning about the existence of opportunities to "turn evil for good", "make from minus plus" and others. These attempts relate to the same category of choice of evils.

Examples from the classics

Russian writers used a proverb in their works. For example, AN Ostrovsky (work "Late Love") put in the mouth of his heroine: "From the bad, you have to choose something better."

The writer A. Tolstoy wrote about the death of Tsar Ivan the Terrible about the fact that no one can doubt to take the lesser of the two threatening evils, which is impossible and "there is no choice for us."