Editing Evil (section)

===Necessity===
{{Main|Necessary evil}}
[[File:Martin_Luther_by_Cranach-restoration.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Martin Luther]] believed that occasional minor evil could have a positive effect.]]
[[Martin Luther]] argued that there are cases where a little evil is a positive good. He wrote, "Seek out the society of your boon companions, drink, play, talk bawdy, and amuse yourself. One must sometimes commit a sin out of hate and contempt for [[the Devil]], so as not to give him the chance to make one scrupulous over mere nothings&nbsp;..."<ref>Martin Luther, ''Werke'', XX, p. 58</ref>

The [[international relations]] theories of [[Realism in international relations|realism]] and [[neorealism (international relations)|neorealism]], sometimes called ''[[realpolitik]]'' advise politicians to explicitly ban absolute moral and [[Ethics|ethical]] considerations from international politics, and to focus on self-interest, political survival, and power politics, which they hold to be more accurate in explaining a world they view as explicitly [[amorality|amoral]] and dangerous. Political realists usually justify their perspectives by stating that morals and politics should be separated as two unrelated things, as exerting authority often involves doing something not moral. Machiavelli wrote: "there will be traits considered good that, if followed, will lead to ruin, while other traits, considered vices which if practiced achieve security and well being for the prince."<ref name = "erragh">Niccolo Machiavelli, ''The Prince'', Dante University of America Press, 2003, {{ISBN|978-0-937832-38-7}}</ref>