Abstract
This chapter argues that not only do bad things sometimes have good effects, but that in some cases the badness of the cause is essential to the realisation of the good effect Here, puzzlingly, it seems that some things are bad in so far as they’re good. This paradox has been recognised in the Christian tradition of the ‘happy fault’ of Adam, whose original sin of disobedience was a necessary condition of the gracious redemptive sacrifice of Christ. Drawing on this and other ‘secular’ examples of good-producing-evils, I argue that the moral paradox of the happy fault may reasonably make us wonder whether total consistency of ethical judgement is attainable even in principle.KeywordsEthical JudgementMoral LuckParadise LostMoral PhenomenologyExtra MarkThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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