Evil be Thou my Good

Does the concept of evil have a place in psychoanalytic thinking?

Abstract

The concept of Evil carries within it a long philosophical and theological tradition. Clearly linked as it is, to both Ethics and the Law, it cannot but have some affinity with a discipline like psychoanalysis which attempts to give meaning to the vicissitudes of the human psyche, as well as their manifestations in behaviour. The aim of this theoretical essay is to elaborate on the possible similarities and differences between the theological, philosophic and the psychoanalytic approaches to this concept, but also to highlight areas of mutually enriching complementarity that may exist between them. The underlying question will always be: are the terms and conceptualizations that psychoanalysis employs for the clarification of phenomena categorized by philosophy as ‘evil’, sufficient to explain it, or is psychoanalysis blind to the fact that something keeps eluding us, that only non-psychoanalytic disciplines can provide?