The "choosing evil" difference (was: Snape and Raistlin Majere)

[nrenka]

No: HPFGUIDX 126501


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Shaun Hately" <drednort at a...> 
wrote:

<snip>

> Shaun:

> Most who come to evil come to it accidentally - they saunter 
> vaguely downwards towards it. Can I say for certain that Snape did 
> that? No - but in the absence of anything to suggest he made a 
> deliberate explicit choice of evil, I think it unlikely. It's rare.

What if the choice was not a deliberate explicit choice "Hmm, I'm 
going to be evil" but the choice of "I'm going to do what I want in 
order to gain power for myself, because myself is what matters".  
Voldemort's Credo is "No good and evil, only power and those too weak 
to use it", which is a pretty concise statement of something like 
Kantian radical evil.

Radical evil is the elevation of self-interest to the supreme 
consideration.  It involves pursuing what you want, regardless of 
harm done to other people, laws broken, offending nature, etc.  
Sounds rather like the Dark Arts (from what we know); get what you 
want even if you have to take it (resurrection spell) or violate 
someone else (Unforgiveables).

Joining the DEs *could* be part of a quest for personal power by 
Young!Snape, and leaving the revelation that power isn't all, that 
good and evil exist.

Well hello, Diana.  Haven't seen you around these parts in some time.

-Nora goes back to turning pages very carefully