The view that evil has no being of its own: it is the lack (privation) of a good that ought to be there, and so depends on the good it corrupts. Classically *privatio boni*. ## Authors & notes - [[Augustine]] — the classic formulation (*privatio boni*) - [[Oderberg on Good and Evil]] — David Oderberg's defence of the theory ## Echoes - [[The Great Divorce - Lewis|The Great Divorce]] — heaven as the real and solid; the damned as thin, insubstantial Ghosts ## Journal mentions - [[Journal#Wednesday, 30 September 2026|2026-09-30]] — The metaphysics in The Great Divorce runs the other way around, and is more likely coming from, I suspect, the privation theory of evil.