Edgar Allan Poe´s concept of wickedness. A philosophical reflection
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Abstract
In some short stories as The black cat and The imp of the perverse, the US American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) tries to explain the attitude of the main carácter using his concept of “wickedness”. Poe outlines what could be a theory of wickedness which is remarkable allusions that philosophers and moralists have given little or no treatment at all. The objective of this article is taking a first step in the philosophical treatment of how Poe understands wickedness. This paper is divided into two sections: first, it explores the notion of wickedness in short stories as The black cat and The imp of the perverse. Second, it illustrates the posible philosophical and theological doctrines that could emulate the concept that Poe uses. This paper tries to demonstrate that Poe is right when he says that his concept of wickedness has not been addressed yet in philosophy and theology.