Editing Lesser of two evils principle (section)

== Origin ==
The maxim existed already in Platonic philosophy.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rol0ALf2AGoC&pg=PA22|title=Moral Dilemmas in Medieval Thought: From Gratian to Aquinas|isbn=9781139501439|last1=Dougherty|first1=M. V.|date=14 April 2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press }}</ref> 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, and whatever preferable is good". The modern formulation was popularized by [[Thomas à Kempis]]' [[Christian devotional literature|devotional book]] ''[[The Imitation of Christ]]'' written in early 15th century.

In part IV of his ''[[Ethics (Spinoza book)|Ethics]]'', [[Spinoza]] states the following maxim:<ref>{{cite book|first=Benedict|last=de Spinoza|author-link=Benedict de Spinoza|title=Ethics|chapter=Of Human Bondage or of the Strength of the Affects|translator-first=W.H.|translator-last=White|orig-year=1677|year=2017|publisher=[[Penguin Classics]]|location=New York|asin=B00DO8NRDC|page=424}}</ref>
{{blockquote|Proposition 65: "According to the guidance of reason, of two things which are good, we shall follow the greater good, and of two evils, follow the less."}}