Good and Evil: A Study of Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Kant’s Religion inside Limitations of Plain Reason

Abstract

Good and evil run as threads through society in varying forms, from the moral issues of one society to the taboo nature of what is believed to be on the wrong side of the law in another. Many people make judgements about good and evil based on expectations of human culture and conscience. But the real issue is whether people consider good and evil to be dynamic forces or simply the 'must do - mustn't do' preferences that human lives are ruled by. The author of this paper intends to outline the nature of good and evil as forces that reside within the human experience rather than external protagonists, as in reality anything in creation can ultimately be deemed destructive except from a short-term viewpoint. Negative effects are not possible in a creative universe; otherwise creation would not have occurred. Good and evil are polar concepts that provide psychological tools to respond to the chaotic nature of life experience, yet they make it impossible to reflect on the longer-term implications of individual actions.