There is no concept of absolute evil in Islam. And what is the root of evil? Desire is the root of evil, illusion is the root of evil.” Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, 563-483 B.C. “What is evil? Killing is evil, lying is evil, slandering is evil, abuse is evil, gossip is evil: envy is evil, hatred is evil, to cling to false doctrine is evil all these things are evil. By evil, on the contrary I understand that which we certainly know hinders us from possessing anything that is good. By good, I understand that which we certainly know is useful to us.Ģ. Notes on the Nature of Evil from Last Weekġ. The main thing is to attempt to understand the ‘idea’ of the story and see the bigger picture that Asimov is creating. That is fine and understandable: I will attempt to answer any questions about vocabulary you might have in class. The following short story was written in 1956 and Asimov said that, of the many that he wrote, this was his favourtie.īecause it is written from a science fiction perspective, some of the words and terms might seem confusing to you. We now look to another Russian writer and one of the founding fathers of modern science fiction, the great Isaac Asimov. Review these two sections and try to answer the following questions:ġ) In your opinion, does the presence of the devil make the story better or worse?Ģ) What would Tolstoy’s motivation be to include the devil?ģ) Why do some religions and philosophies personify evil but others do not? The pdf version we read through together does not contain any elements of evil, it talks solely about man’s greed and desire however, the html version includes the devil at two major parts of the story: at the beginning to tempt Pahom into action and as he dreams when spending the night as the Bashkirs’ camp. Having read through Tolstoy’s How Much Land Does a Man Need? and seeing the obvious warnings he gives about the dangers of greed and his continued advocating of asceticism, let us briefly examine your feelings about the presence of the devil in the story.
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