Lesser of two evils principle¶

The lesser of two evils principle, also referred to as the lesser evil principle and lesser-evilism, is the ethical principle that, when faced with selecting from two immoral options, the less immoral one should be chosen.

Version: v1 · 2026-09-28 · History
Domain-specific #: 10373
Domain group: Humanities
Origin domain: Philosophy
Subdomains: Ethics, Moral Reasoning → Philosophy

Core Idea¶

Lesser of two evils principle is treated here as the recurring moral reasoning identity summarized by this source-grounded definition: The lesser of two evils principle, also referred to as the lesser evil principle and lesser-evilism, is the ethical principle that, when faced with selecting from two immoral options, the less immoral one should be chosen. The lesser of two evils principle, also referred to as the lesser evil principle and lesser-evilism, is the ethical principle that, when faced with selecting from two immoral options, the less immoral one should be chosen.

Scope of Application¶

In modern elections. In 2012, Huffington Post columnist Sanford Jay Rosen stated that refusal to vote for the lesser of two evils became common practice for left-leaning voters in the United States due to.
Origin. In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle writes: "For the lesser evil can be seen in comparison with the greater evil as a good, since this lesser evil is preferable to the greater one.
Origin. The modern formulation was popularized by Thomas à Kempis' devotional book The Imitation of Christ written in early 15^th century.
In modern elections. Hannah Arendt argued that "Those who choose the lesser evil forget very quickly that they chose evil".
In modern elections. In contrast Seyla Benhabib argues that politics would not exist without the necessity to choose between a greater and a lesser evil.

Clarity¶

A clear use of Lesser of two evils principle names the carrier, the operative relation, and the conditions under which the source treats the identity as present. The minimal definition is The lesser of two evils principle, also referred to as the lesser evil principle and lesser-evilism, is the ethical principle that, when faced with selecting from two immoral options, the less immoral one should be chosen.

Manages Complexity¶

Lesser of two evils principle compresses multiple moral reasoning details into a stable diagnostic relation. The source shows both the central mechanism—in the 2016 United States presidential election, both major candidates of the major parties — Hillary Clinton (D) and Donald Trump (R) — had disapproval ratings close to 60% by August 2016.—and the practical consequence—hannah Arendt argued that "Those who choose the lesser evil forget very quickly that.

Abstract Reasoning¶

Type the carrier. Identify the moral reasoning entities to which the claim applies.
State the relation. Use the source-grounded identity: The lesser of two evils principle, also referred to as the lesser evil principle and lesser-evilism, is the ethical principle that, when faced with selecting from two immoral options, the less immoral one should be chosen.
Check operation and conditions.

Knowledge Transfer¶

Within the home domain. Knowledge about Lesser of two evils principle transfers literally when a new case preserves the same carrier type, relation, and recognition test. In 2012, Huffington Post columnist Sanford Jay Rosen stated that refusal to vote for the lesser of two evils became common practice for left-leaning voters in the United States due to their overwhelming disapproval of the United States government's support for the Vietnam War.

Neighborhood in Abstraction Space¶

Lesser of two evils principle sits in a sparse region of the domain-specific corpus (83^rd percentile for distinctiveness): few abstractions share its structure, so a faithful description tends to retrieve it precisely.

Family — Moral & Political Concepts (9 abstractions)

Nearest neighbors

Computed from structural-signature embeddings · 2026-10-08