Thread: What is Evil?

Originally Posted by zib

You sound like a Postal Worker.

Now, Take Al Queda, What they did to the Towers was an evil act, imo.
Innocent people were killed, but to them, it was a religous act, not evil or so they claim.

I don't believe in relative good and evil. An act is good or evil irrespective of the beliefs of those committing the act.

What it is instead is acceptable or unacceptable. So what Al Queda did was evil whether they think so or not - but it was an acceptable act to them based on their beliefs.

To us, it was both evil and unacceptable.

Originally Posted by Scipio

. Am I evil...yes I am.

A metallica fan?

Both good and evil are neccessary, without good there would be no evil, without evil there would be no good, but both good and evil are relative. AFAIC evil is good because that is what gets us as a people to move ahead, or to produce good, if we didnt see evil or atleast say something is evil society would be stagnant. Nietzche's "beyond good and evil" is a very good read, imo.

Originally Posted by Alembic

And when you say absolute truth, I take it you mean there is no relative truth (which I never believed there was anyhow)?

Sounds like something I'd believe... yes, I don't believe in relative truth

Originally Posted by Jasongreat

but both good and evil are relative

Please elaborate on this.

Originally Posted by Del1r1um

Sounds like something I'd believe... yes, I don't believe in relative truth

Yes, something can be true or not true, but it can't be true for me and not true for you - one of us would be wrong. As hard as that is to accept for many people, there are instances where somebody is wrong.

Originally Posted by Alembic

I don't believe in relative good and evil. An act is good or evil irrespective of the beliefs of those committing the act.

What it is instead is acceptable or unacceptable. So what Al Queda did was evil whether they think so or not - but it was an acceptable act to them based on their beliefs.

To us, it was both evil and unacceptable.

One could say that what al queda did was good, regardless of what they felt about it. Taking down the twin towers got us to quit feeling so secure, and made the US safer because of that loss of our feelings of security. Al queda settled for a few thousand lives and a couple buildings as their good, or our evil, when they could of killed hundreds of thousands if they would of changed venues. A couple of planes crashing into the rose bowl, or the super bowl would of killed far more, but because of the choice to do what they did, it will be harder to get bigger body counts, because we are paying attention now, which is good imo. No matter what the opinion, good and evil are relative, just like everything else in life.

If you look at the human race throughout all of history, and spanning the entire breadth of the planet-- every culture which has ever existed, has had some notion of both good and evil. To me, this is sufficient proof as to the existence of both good and evil. Granted, there are social variations, which account for the 'social norms' mentioned earlier, but the core concepts good and evil seem to be pretty universal. But, most importantly, the most pernicious type of evil is that which is carried out in the name of 'good'. This blurring of the lines, I believe, leads some to the denial of the existence of good and evil. Just my 2 cents.

Originally Posted by Jasongreat

good and evil are relative, just like everything else in life.

Ok, I understand your perspective now. But I don't think everything in life is relative. Truth is not relative - only one of two perspectives can actually be true, somebody will be wrong, but in an effort to get along, we allow somebody to walk away with their dignity in tact by saying "What is true for me does not have to be true for you". But that does not mean one of the people is any less wrong.

Good expresses compassion. Evil does not.

Originally Posted by Mike Blue

Good expresses compassion. Evil does not.

Well said, kind of a different way to say the same thing as the Golden rule.