Articolo
Abstract

Why is man turning to evil? He has reason and intelligence, and yet evil attracts him. This can be seen in the myth of Faust and other literary works following the scheme of the pact with the Devil. But this can also be seen in real life. In this respect, the problem of evil is a general problem of mankind, and therefore a major problem of philosophy. What is evil? Where does it come from? Where does it lead us to? What does man get out of it? Is it another person or being who instigates me to do evil, or is it myself? And finally: is evil the total difference to me? Querying the writers Goethe and Nothomb, but also the philosophers Rousseau, Herder, Kant and Schelling, we shall try to obtain answers to these questions.

Keywords: Evil; Faust; Goethe; Nothomb; Freedom.