Can anyone please explain Reinert's comment?

Question

"The final paradox is man in his tragic vision saying ‘I do not believe in the invincibility of evil but in the inevitability of defeat'".

Answer 1

In order for the statement to be a paradox, you need to paraphrase carefully.

Humans believe Evil is not invincible
Humans believe Defeat is inevitable
hidden premise--> (Defeat is a form of Evil)
hidden premise--> (inevitibility is a form of invincibility)
-------
therefore contradiction.


The human is condemned to at the same time accept evil -- their own certain and untimely death (for instance) -- and yet uphold belief in the power of the good, even though evil always wins in the end.

Answer 2

He's saying evil can be beaten. He even calls it inevitable.

Remember though, that this statement is being attributed to "man" not Reinert himself.

It's a bit of a dangling modifier making me initially wonder whose defeat he means, evil's or the one struggling against it. But the rest of the original paragraph makes it clear that he means the defeat of evil.

Answer 3

i think it was another way of him saying, "live by the scord you'll die by scord."