07-14-2003, 06:00 PM | #2 (permalink) |
Kiss of Death
Location: Perpetual wind and sorrow
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Evil is an action against another that is destructive, intentional (in some weird cases it could be un-intentional), and meant to hurt or offend someone. It is just cold to think that evil doesn't exist, as well as just plain stupid. Sure one could argue that its a notion concieved by man, but it is also an action created by man. In the grand scheme of things, for our "existence", there has to be balance thus you have good and evil.
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07-15-2003, 09:27 AM | #3 (permalink) | |
Sky Piercer
Location: Ireland
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It is a concept concieved of men. It is an action committed by men. How that that prove that it's not a social construct?
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07-15-2003, 09:37 AM | #4 (permalink) |
Junkie
Location: Louisville, KY
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Evil is when a human lives by a certain set of choices, knowing full well that another suffers for it, knowingly or unknowingly, despite having alternatives. Good is when the human lives by the alternative choices, even if that puts him/her at a disadvantage over those who chose the path of evil.
Evil can be manifested in the tiniest of decisions. You see someone drop a dollar and not notice, so you pick it up - do you return it to its rightful owner, or pocket it? They will never notice its gone, so why not keep it? A lack of moral principles, or a tendency to often bend them, leads people to evil.
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You do not use a Macintosh, instead you use a Tandy Kompressor break your glowstick, Kompressor eat your candy Kompressor open jaws, Kompressor release ants Kompressor watch you scream, Because Kompressor does not dance Last edited by Nefir; 07-15-2003 at 09:39 AM.. |
07-21-2003, 01:41 AM | #5 (permalink) |
Tilted
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Your opinion on the definition of evil is just that, an opinion. What is good, what is evil... what is pious, what is impious... right vs. wrong...
These are questions that have no universal answers. Each person has their own answer, and while society influences what we believe, we're individuals with our differing views on things |
07-21-2003, 06:41 AM | #7 (permalink) |
My future is coming on
Moderator Emeritus
Location: east of the sun and west of the moon
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I think you can define an action or an outcome as "evil", but I'm not sure I believe in evil as a concept, as a force that "causes" people to behave in certain ways. I would think there are much more rational, empirical ways to identify the causes of behavior. Then again, I hear some stories that make me think twice about that and wonder how a human could ever be so twisted.
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07-21-2003, 09:01 AM | #8 (permalink) |
Banned
Location: Autonomous Zone
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Personally, I subscribe to the utilitarian theory of ethics. Since I am not a philosopher, I'll quote wikipedia:
Utilitarianism is both a metaethical doctrine, and a theory in normative ethics. Utilitarianism holds, in its simplest form, that "the good" is whatever yields the greatest "utility". Utility has been understood in different ways - happiness, pleasure, preference-satisfaction, etc. - but it is always a naturalistic conception of an individual's good. As a metaethical doctrine, it holds that "whatever yields the greatest utility" is the meaning of the word "good" (thus it is a naturalistic theory of metaethics); while as a normative theory, it merely holds that "whatever yields the greatest utility" is in fact good, whatever the meaning of the word "good" may be. Basically, a good act is one which causes the greastest amount of pleasure to most people*, while an evil one causes the greatest amount of pain. *Some, myself included, would include animals. [edit] linky http://utilitarian.org/one.html Last edited by Pennington; 07-21-2003 at 09:08 AM.. |
07-26-2003, 07:05 AM | #9 (permalink) |
COMPLETED and A TRAINER
Location: BEAN_TOWN
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man is evil, and life is good.
For if there were no life, how could there be evil?
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LEATHER, LATEX and LACE "SSC" "Nothing That Gives Pleasure is Bad" Quality is for those who know what they want and are at peace with what they have. "S/M is about emotion; the erotic tension between my impulse toward something and my resistance against it."-- Virginia Barker |
07-26-2003, 09:43 AM | #10 (permalink) | |
Addict
Location: Texas
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back to the thread, now. For me, good and evil are dependent on the person. That is, it's an attribute we arbitraily assign as individuals, and the declaration of anything to be 'good' or 'evil' has no berring on the worth of the action/object/person etc. To put a fine point on it, I basicaly agree with syquestrd270.
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07-26-2003, 01:24 PM | #12 (permalink) | |
Banned
Location: Autonomous Zone
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07-26-2003, 03:29 PM | #14 (permalink) |
Upright
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If you want to do some reading on the subject check out Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty by Roy Baumeister. It's appears to be well researched and supported, and is very interesting, if somewhat depressing. I can't really summarize in a forum post, but among the main points are that "pure evil" is primarily a myth and most instances that look that way are distorted in media reports, victim accounts, and even just the perceptions of those hearing about them.
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07-27-2003, 03:37 AM | #18 (permalink) | |
Banned
Location: Autonomous Zone
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07-27-2003, 10:02 PM | #20 (permalink) |
Archangel of Change
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I don't think good or evil exists. It is just something humans made up. Take animals for example:
One animal kills another of the same species. Is that evil? I don't think so. One animal steals from another of the same species. Is that evil? I don't think so. For some reason, people have to think of humans as "better" than everything else. That is part of the power behind religion. It makes people feel special, and therefore better than animals. People like to feel superior because it feels good. They may not realise their desire to feel superior, but if you ask them if humans are above animals, they will say yes. Sure humans are more complex than other animals, but the level of complexity doesn't determine the worthiness of a living thing. Nothing deserves to life more than anything else. How does this have to do with the topic? Good is superior to evil. People like to be good, because it means they are better people than the evil people. They call people evil so that there is a living manifestation of the inferior that is evil. Everyone probably feels they are a better person than Hitler (with the exception of neo-nazis). It is build into you to want to be better than someone else. You want to be good, because it is better than evil. That is possibly one reason behind the concepts of good and evil. Right and wrong are different things. I subscibe to the "greater good" way of looking at things. Everyone sees the world differently so there is no true definition for good or evil. |
07-28-2003, 12:34 AM | #21 (permalink) |
Crazy
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evil was given a name when someone didnt get their way
good was born when someone wanted to feel better about themself actions described by the words are opinions example: generally, i think we can agree that itd be evil to mutilate someone generally, its not considered evil to kill someone who is attempting to cause harm to others. can be considered good(defense) but if you kill someone whos about to kill 500 other people, and you then proceed to mutilate his corpse, its debatable you just saved people, but youre being indulgeant in your affairs there with the hacking and whatnot.
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cough Last edited by maxero; 07-28-2003 at 12:37 AM.. |
07-30-2003, 09:36 PM | #22 (permalink) | |
Crazy
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Then again, I think there's some law that once someone mentions Hitler on a thread, further discussion is pointless. I'm not arguing that good and evil don't exist (they exist as much as other human constructs). Just that they are subjective. |
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07-31-2003, 02:09 PM | #24 (permalink) |
Rookie
Location: Oxford, UK
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Moonduck - in which case the thread is over? Just when it was getting interesting
My question is: does anyone who is truly evil believe themselves to be so? And if they don't, what does this mean to those who say that morality is objective?
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08-02-2003, 11:09 AM | #25 (permalink) |
Junkie
Location: SE USA
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Morality is objective. It is objective simply because, by definition, morality is a societally-defined set of accepted behaviours. Whether an individual believes themselves evil or not is irrelevant. It is society at large that decides where one fall on the good-evil axis.
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08-03-2003, 01:17 AM | #26 (permalink) |
Rookie
Location: Oxford, UK
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Moonduck - morality is objective but defined by society? Does this mean there are multiple objective moralities, one for each society with different rules?
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I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones. -- John Cage (1912 - 1992) |
08-04-2003, 06:30 AM | #28 (permalink) |
Banned
Location: kyle
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what is moral or evil is largely determined by what particular normative ethical theory you subscribe to.
Posting a picture of a 19 year old female with a dildo stuck in her pussy on the TFP would be moral to a utilitarian (in the sense that the degredation of one 19 year old is far offset by the pleasure derived by 3,000 TFP viewers) But a person subscribing to Kantian ethics would ask "would I want my sister or daughter picture posted here?" and conclude that it was imoral or evil |
08-07-2003, 12:31 PM | #29 (permalink) |
Upright
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People do what makes them happy.
Thats it. It makes US Marines happy to roll into Iraq. Plus they get paid decently. It made the 911 hijackers happy to take out their rage on America. It made the firefighters who went in and bravely died happy to fight fires and help people inside. It made the businesspeople inside happy to be making money, probably regardless of how they went about doing it. Once thats taken care of its all a matter of majority opinion and whether not the way you get your kicks happens to seriously impede somone else's. |
08-07-2003, 03:13 PM | #30 (permalink) |
Upright
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It is my belief that there is no absolute good or evil unless there exists some greater metaphysical truth that rationalizes absolute good or evil.
Interestingly enough, a study proposes that intelligent people tend towards altruism ("good") and less intelligent people tend towards selfishness ("evil.") On another note, various cultures do share similar conceptions of good and evil. The sanctity of life, for instance, is respected (or at least recognised, hence the pleasure/displeasure taken when defiling it) by most. |
08-07-2003, 05:50 PM | #31 (permalink) | |
Guest
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Less intellegent people don't develop those views, hence the selfishness |
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08-08-2003, 07:47 PM | #34 (permalink) |
Addict
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I think too many people have this shifty, slimy view that good and evil are entirely malleable constructions created in their entirety by man and molded by society. I tend to think that while a "societal" or "majority" view is important, that good and evil are still something more absolute than the notions held by "most people".
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08-14-2003, 03:09 PM | #37 (permalink) | |
Sky Piercer
Location: Ireland
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Talk about skirting the issue!
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08-14-2003, 05:58 PM | #40 (permalink) | |
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