On Counseling the Lesser Evil

1 This issue is quite distinct from the issue of whether one can choose the lesser evil. 2 There is one contemporary article in English that is often cited: Edward Thomas Hannigan, S.J., “Is It Ever Lawful to Advise the Lesser of Two Evils?” Gregorianum 30 (1949): 104-29. This article is almost identical to the published extract from Fr. Hannigan’s doctoral dissertation at the Pontifical Gregorian University. The dissertation itself (Edward Thomas Hannigan, S.J., “Is It Ever Lawful to Advise the Lesser of Two Evils? [Dissertatio ad lauream in Facultate Theologica]” [Rome: Pontifical Gregorian University, 1948]) is not publicly available; but I have used and benefitted from it in writing the present article. Much of the other contemporary (or fairly contemporary) literature on the issue is in Latin; see, for instance Ludwig Bender, “Consulere minus malum,” Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses 8 (1931): 592-614; Michael S. Fabregas, S.J., “Licetne consulere minus malum?” Periodica de Re Canonica et Morali 31 (1932): 57*-74*; and Joseph Cacciatore, C.Ss.R., “Consulere minus malum,” Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses 10 (1933): 618-46. 245 The Thomist 75 (2011): 245-89 ON COUNSELING THE LESSER EVIL KEVIN L. FLANNERY, S.J. Pontificia Universitas Gregoriana Rome, Italy A N IMPORTANT ISSUE in natural law ethics and moral theology is whether one can legitimately counsel someone who is bent upon bringing about an evil to bring about some lesser evil.1 However, although the legitimacy of “counseling the lesser evil” is an important issue, to which ethicists and moral theologians over the centuries have devoted much thought, the history of its treatment is not well known in the English-speaking world.2 The present article is an attempt to remedy this situation to some small extent by going through the pertinent writings of some of the major contributors to the centuries-long scholarly and theological conversation. It would be erroneous to say that the Church has definitively resolved the issue of whether one can licitly counsel the lesser evil; nonetheless, a consideration of the ways in which the issue has been treated by the classical authors and by those more recent KEVIN L. FLANNERY, S.J. 246 3 See the references in note 2. scholars directly involved in the conversation gives us a good idea of the parameters within which a genuinely natural law answer to the question must situate itself. Since the history of the issue is long and complex, it is necessary to limit the number of authorities considered here. In section I, I discuss very briefly two biblical passages frequently cited by later authors. In sections II-VI, I consider pertinent remarks by St. Augustine (354-430), St. Thomas Aquinas (122574 ), Cajetan (Thomas de Vio) (1469-1534), Tomás Sánchez (1550-1610), and St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787). In section VII, I consider an article published in 1931 by Ludwig Bender which provoked a fairly heated debate.3 In the conclusion, I call attention to some of the major themes that emerge in this survey. I. SACRED SCRIPTURE A) Ishmael and the Ten Men (Jer 41) Jeremiah 41 recounts the crimes of Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, a bandit chieftain. First Ishmael kills Gedaliah, governor of Judah at the time, in the city of Mizpah, where he ruled. When the next day eighty pilgrims arrive, Ishmael first seduces them into the city, saying to them, “Come in to Gedaliah” (Jer 48:6), then slays them as well—with the exception of ten who say to Ishmael, “Do not kill us for we have stores of wheat, barley, oil, and honey hidden in the fields” (Jer 41:8 [RSV]). The presumption is that the ten will not tell Ishmael where the stores are hidden unless he spares their lives—which he apparently does. The ten men induce Ishmael—and perhaps even urge him—to perform an evil deed (theft)—although it is a lesser evil than he has been intent upon (murder). In the later debates regarding counseling the lesser evil, however, it is usually presumed that the ten men do not actually urge Ishmael to commit theft but simply indicate to him the material by means of which he might commit...