What could have caused these young boys to commit such an "evil" act? Were they not raised right? Were they merely curious as to how the toddler would scream and wail as he neared his death? Were their intentions to cause pain upon a helpless victim? Could they have been simply bored and desired to amuse themselves?
Terry Eagleton's On Evil begins with an introduction describing a heinous crime committed by unlikely assailants. He immediately starts to speculate on the causalities of the situation. First, Freud's concept of the superego is considered. Children, compared to their elders, theoretically possess a weak superego, or a lack of a moral foundation. Their lack of understanding what is right or wrong could have lead to the crime. Then, Eagleton discusses on how we've always perceived children as "half-alien" creatures, meaning they resemble us but are not quite the same. They seem to lack a fundamental purpose like work or reproduction and maintain an overall uncanny innocence. Perhaps these boys were just looking for a purpose themselves.
But then, Eagleton suggests that there may not be a cause at all and that a lack of motivation is what evil should truly be regarded as. Is it then an uncontrollable trait, an urge, that a person is afflicted with since birth? Or is a person influenced to be evil? If so, the boys could be considered to be at no fault for their murder. Isn't punishment for simply an unfortunate existence seen as unfair and contradictory?
"Fifteen years ago, two ten-year-old boys tortured and killed a toddler in the north of England...A police officer involved in the case of the murdered toddler declared that the moment he clapped eyes on one of the culprits, he knew that he was evil" (Eagleton 1-2).
I've been rereading passages and discovering new things I missed. I'm also having great difficulty in refraining from reading more than what is required for each week. Eagleton's discussions flows so well into each other and seems to paint evil as an eluding, intangible concept. I can only hope to grasp it as I continue my reading.