The Epistemological Asymmetry of Good and Evil: Celebration, Closure, and the Design of Memories

This article analyses the epistemological asymmetry between remembering and forgetting Good and Evil and their ethical implications. While philosophy has traditionally focused on the metaphysical asymmetry (the privation theory that Evil exists only as an absence of Good), this article addresses the uneven moral distribution arising from memory practices: remembering Good is morally good, whereas forgetting Good, forgetting Evil, and remembering Evil may each bear morally negative implications. The article argues that this asymmetry should be rectified through differentiated memory practices: celebration for Good and closure for Evil. Celebration involves active commemoration that perpetuates Good’s presence, while closure enables remembering Evil without causing further Evil. The article then explores practical applications of this framework to physical memory artefacts, including monuments and “cancel culture” debates, and digital memory technologies, arguing that current designs often fail to differentiate adequately between these types of “moral memory”. It concludes by suggesting some principles and requirements for designing ethical memory architectures that properly support celebration and closure, contributing to improved human flourishing through more nuanced approaches to remembering the past.