Evil

[trojan698]

Is there such a thing?

Following on from the school shooting thread I thought it might be worth a separate discussion.

I used to dismiss peoples bad behaviour as confused or disturbed or simply having a different value system due to the culture of their past. But I'm becoming more and more convinced that evil just plain exists.

What's your view?

 

[kwerk]

i like this explanation

 

[estebanrey]

Unlike Hollywood movies, almost no one thinks they are evil.

 

[trojan698]

Love the einstein video.

Unlike Hollywood movies, almost no one thinks they are evil.

You said your work collegue had been sent down and was in your words "possessed", how do u think that's possible?

 

[Bennie-Mac]

Hitler? Id say he was pretty evil. Ghengis Khan also.

 

[trojan698]

how do u know?

 

[[FnG]magnolia]

Ghengis Khan was just misunderstood.

 

[StriderX]

There is no evil, there is simply desire.

 

[Muel]

I've been watching a lot of telly recently about outlaw biker gangs recently, and I'd say they're pretty evil.

 

[Theophany]

Surely good and evil are merely points of view - there are no absolutes.

 

[mmj_uk]

It's all relative, most of the middle east believes Israel and USA to be evil, Israel and USA believe most of the middle east (Muslims) to be evil, people on both sides follow the consensus and believe they are on the side of good and let their governments do what they do in the name of fighting against evil.

If you compare deaths caused by each country over the past 50yrs one country will be head and shoulders above the rest, but that country is widely considered to be the good guys fighting evil...

Ultimately, you could say that anyone who intentionally commits harm against another living being is evil however they try to justify it.

 

[Twirlywoos]

i like this explanation

Boom!

 

[trojan698]

Surely good and evil are merely points of view - there are no absolutes.

I'm not sure, I understand that they're relative or can be seen that way, but it boils down to intent really doesn't it? To have good or bad intentions. What is good? To benefit the other. What is bad? To harm the other. People get confused along the way though, and obviously it's not that clean cut, but it's kind of true.

 

[JBod]

I know I am not a nice person but I don't consider myself evil.

I do think some people revel in it. I am thinking council scrotes breaking in and stabbing old ladies and the like.

 

[ntg]

as far as the recent school massacre and the OP question, context is everything:

from wikipedia:

Estimates of deaths in the Syrian civil war vary between 40,000 and 55,105, the later figure combining several sources.[1][2][3]
UNICEF reported that over 500 children have been killed by early February 2012.[4][5] Another 400 children have been reportedly arrested and tortured in Syrian prisons.[6][7] Both claims have been contested by the Syrian government.[8] Additionally, over 600 detainees and political prisoners have died under torture.[9] In mid-October 2012, the opposition activist group SOHR reported the number of children killed in the conflict had risen to 2,300

So, yeah, there are far worse things going on right now around us so applying the word 'evil' to the american massacre is a bit of an overstatement considering other events.

 

[elmarko]

Evil is a label we ascribe to an action or behaviour, the same as beautiful or disgusting.

It's a common mistake of humans to describe their own subjective evaluations as intrinsic properties of the object or behaviour in question.

For example,

"I find maggots disgusting" becomes "maggots are disgusting" - one implies a view, the other implies an intrinsic quality (Which is wrong) - we project our view of an action or behaviour onto the focus of our attention.

In short, evil does not exist - it's a view of an action behaviour or person - at best it's a gross simplification of a series of complex flaws in a human's development, at worst it's an idiots way of explaining the world.

Ultimately, you could say that anyone who intentionally commits harm against another living being is evil however they try to justify it.

I quite like that on a social level, the only part that gets more complicated is when you address the root cause.

If person A kills 10 children they are "evil".

If person B kills 10 children (but was abused & tortured for 10 years by his parents causing him to have a mental breakdown) - are they stil "evil"? or broken?.

If person C kills 10 children because of a series of seemingly average events which caused the erosion of empathy, disconnected from reality & violent urges (due to a neurological flaw/genetic defect) are they still "evil"?

At what point when you example the root cause of human behaviour do you simply label it all as "human "X" responding to a combination of genetics & environment causing them to behave in "Y" manner"?.

 

[estebanrey]

You said your work collegue had been sent down and was in your words "possessed", how do u think that's possible?

He also pleaded 'Not Guilty' which proves my point that despite him doing an evil thing, he didn't consider himself an evil person.

If you are asking whether I think he was genuinely possessed, as in a supernatural sense, then no I don't. I think for a reason unknown to me (better to ask a psychologist) he just had mental breakdown at that point in time.

 

[elmarko]

He also pleaded 'Not Guilty' which proves my point that despite him doing an evil thing, he didn't consider himself an evil person.

If you are asking whether I think he was genuinely possessed, as in a supernatural sense, then no I don't. I think for a reason unknown to me (better to ask a psychologist) he just had mental breakdown at that point in time.

Sounds like a schizophrenic episode or some kind, not that I'm an expert.

But it's well document people getting seemingly random extreme violent urges.

 

[aardvark]

Evil is a label we ascribe to an action or behaviour, the same as beautiful or disgusting.

It's a common mistake of humans to describe their own subjective evaluations as intrinsic properties of the object or behaviour in question.

For example,

"I find maggots disgusting" becomes "maggots are disgusting" - one implies a view, the other implies an intrinsic quality (Which is wrong) - we project our view of an action or behaviour onto the focus of our attention.

In short, evil does not exist - it's a view of an action behaviour or person - at best it's a gross simplification of a series of complex flaws in a human's development, at worst it's an idiots way of explaining the world.

I quite like that on a social level, the only part that gets more complicated is when you address the root cause.

If person A kills 10 children they are "evil".

If person B kills 10 children (but was abused & tortured for 10 years by his parents causing him to have a mental breakdown) - are they stil "evil"? or broken?.

If person C kills 10 children because of a series of seemingly average events which caused the erosion of empathy, disconnected from reality & violent urges (due to a neurological flaw/genetic defect) are they still "evil"?

At what point when you example the root cause of human behaviour do you simply label it all as "human "X" responding to a combination of genetics & environment causing them to behave in "Y" manner"?.

good post.

we call these things evil to distance the people who commit them from the rest of the human race - as they are 'evil' and that explains everything, as if its something physical.

some people do horrible things for all sorts of reasons.
'evil' and 'good' are just concepts to try and explain away complex human behaviour.