Q&A: The Evil Inclination and the Proof from Morality
The Evil Inclination and the Proof from Morality
Question
Hello and blessings,
One of the proofs the Rabbi brings for the existence of God is the very existence of the moral sense in a person.
However, if so, why is there also the “evil inclination”? You can say that it is impossible to create a world with free choice in any other way, but…
Either way—if God can implant some kind of moral intuition, why did He also create a warped moral intuition (which definitely exists in some people. I am not speaking only about the ability to choose evil, but about the idea some people have that evil is actually good)?
If He is not capable of planting mental traits, that at least weakens the proof from moral intuition.
Thank you.
Answer
This is not really a question of why. I do not prove the existence of God from the fact that the intuition is good, but from the very existence of normative intuition (not factual intuition). And indeed, as you wrote, without the inclination to do evil our choice has no meaning. People who think evil is good are quite rare.