Is there such a thing as evil?

Some say there are Three Axes of Evil and that abortion is evil and that pornography is evil and that Saddam is evil.

Some say Americans are evil.

One man's evil is another man's good?

Is there a constant? Is there such a thing as "good and evil"? Are they tangible things?

Or is it just fundamentalist propoganda to scare people?

 

the word itself turns a lot of people off, because it ties in with religion. i use the word from time to time, but i just use it in the same context that i would "wrong" in.

as far as a constant goes...hmmm

 

anything that goes against the bush regieme is evil
religious practicioners from another land = evil

 

The world evil by conservatives . They use it to represent people that do not agree with them ..

 

most politicians are corrupt, though...even if we agree with their views.

 

all i am going to say is...i have encountered some really NASTY things in my dreams. I dont know what they are but they sure were sick.

 

You're right man, but everyone is corrupted in some way ..

 

What about just conservatives in general, not even politicians? They seem to dub things "evil" often enough.





....I think.

 

well there are specific things that are, by almost everyones standards, evil [ie Hitlers Final Solutions etc]

so, yes, evil does exist, even though most "evil" is subjective

 

I would say there it evil especially energy wise. Dreams would be a place to find bad energy. One question though is why do you find bad energy. Can it come about from peoples emotions and actions?

 

Usually people who put things in moralistic terms don't want to consider them too hard.

 

That's what I think most people would say, yeah. Although it still confuses me sometimes. Sometimes I think "evil" is just a word.

 

evil is a static, a thing is as evil as it's actions within this static frame

america is evil

saddaam is evil

pretty much everything is at least slightly evil

 

evil is what you make it. something can only be evil if society (or you) labels it that..so basically..yes evil exists, if you let it exist (by believing somethin is evil..)..

or something..yes..my brain is not working..it made sense in my head

 

There are many different standards of good/evil. Take Hume, who bases his around whatever feels evil. Which is why, for example, a planned, cold-blooded murder is considered worse than one commited in the heat in passion. Or Hobbes, who believed no such thing as morality could exist in a purely physical world. Or Kant (who they believe to be the only person to have ever had an IQ over 200) who put everything in terms of universal laws (ie. don't do anything you wouldn't want everybody to do every time).

Take some Moral Philosophy, and the discussion will be 10 times as deep.

 

Evil is metaphysical. You cannot touch evil. You cannot smell evil. You cannot see evil or hear evil. For all intensive purposes, evil does not exist in the physical world. Evil is something that we humans have made up in our minds. That goes for love and morals and justice as well. All those things are not tangeable, yet they exist in our thoughts.

Evil is everything and anything unjust. Justice according to Plato is some universal constant that we humans will never obtain the knowledge of.

Your definition of evil depends on your definition of reality. If reality includes ONLY the physical world, then evil does not exist.

I personally am intrigued by Descartes "I think therefore I am" The only thing that we are 100% sure of as real is what is in our heads. Our perceptions of the physical world may be wrong. Our senses can deceive us. But our thoughts cannot deceive us. They are real. If evil is the lack of morality, morality exists, and if the only thing that is provable as real is our thoughts, then evil is real in our minds.

Morality is really not provable. Some people think that morality is a constant throughout the universe. Some people think that morality varies according to the society. Some people think that morality varies according to the individual. Some people think that morality doesnt exist.

Its an unanswerable question, but in attempting to answer it we furthur our knowledge. The advancement of knowledge is the goal of humanity. Reaching absolute knowledge would be comparable to a god-like state and that is probably not possible for humanity. But we sure as hell can get close.

Sorry for the utter unorganization. I just type what I think and I dont organize my thoughts well.

 

Well, in my beleif, every person is evil by nature. That is why we have wars, why there are people like Hitler and things like that. The only thing, is that you have to overcome the evil in your nature. I am sure everyone here can testify that in order to grasp the concept of love, you had to toss out hate. Hate is evil, love it good. Let me rephrase that, hating other PEOPLE is evil. Hating the evil that person does it not evil... if that makes sense. But we have a nature to lie, to cheat, to cover up what we have done and things like that because we are evil from birth, but it takes a lot of self-reprogramming to get out of those habits... If you don't it just gets worse.

Those are my thoughts on the subject.

 

Prove it.

 

how bout you, have a kid and don't teach it, at all, leave it in isolation.....



what'll happen?


in rehsus monkeys they become sociopaths and brutally kill other rhesus monkeys.....

 

isolation can lead to evil, but that doesnt prove original sin

isolation is a negative force, not a neutral force