Ontological status of evil and metaphysics of essence

The article considers the concept of evil and its ambiguous status in the history of philosophy. It is shown that in the framework of the metaphysics of essence, or the metaphysics of good, which was common feature of ancient and medieval philosophy, evil was conceived as something devoid of essence, non-existent. The author considers the development of this concept and its understanding in this era. At the same time, it is noted that in modern times such an understanding of evil becomes unsatisfactory due to a change in the ontological paradigm, as well as an epistemological turn that occurred in this era. In conclusion, the author turns to modern methods of conceptualizing the phenomenon of evil.