Regardless of what we may believe is evil just a characteristic of humanity that no amount of civilization will ever eradicate. That most comply with laws that lead to a peaceful happy cooperate society is there just a small percentage of wrong 'uns that will always do whatever they please whether that be engaging in acts of exploitation or violence or murder or mayhem?
Originally posted by kmax87If evil didn't exist, it would be in man's nature to invent it.
Regardless of what we may believe is evil just a characteristic of humanity that no amount of civilization will ever eradicate. That most comply with laws that lead to a peaceful happy cooperate society is there just a small percentage of wrong 'uns that will always do whatever they please whether that be engaging in acts of exploitation or violence or murder or mayhem?
Originally posted by huckleberryhoundOr is their no real innate moral sense of good programmed into our genes, so what we observe as 'evil' is just another example of the ultimate expression of freedom of choice of one dominant gene type over another less resilient form?
If evil didn't exist, it would be in man's nature to invent it.
its unfair so say that anything is evil, especially our instincs, we don't invent evil we would invent self preservation, so if i get bread for me instead of a hungry man over there thats not evil, thats instinctive because I need the bread to live, so essentialy everything we do revolves around us somehow
I'm not a fan of this 'evil' 'good' terminology, it tends to suggest habit. If I do something evil, people will probably think that doing evil things is my habit, but not have looked at the whole story.
Yes, I do think that there will always be a certain number of people who do stuff that doesn't really help anyone else, or even harms them, but that's just nature. If a niche is left open, someone or something is going to fill it. It's actually in our interests long term. If the world somehow changes, having people of different bents improves our societies flexibility.
So basically,
"It's just a bunch of stuff that happens"
Originally posted by kmax87Would you say we are 'blanks' with no morality by default and all notions of good or bad are experiential?
Regardless of what we may believe is evil just a characteristic of humanity that no amount of civilization will ever eradicate. That most comply with laws that lead to a peaceful happy cooperate society is there just a small percentage of wrong 'uns that will always do whatever they please whether that be engaging in acts of exploitation or violence or murder or mayhem?
Originally posted by AThousandYoungPain isn’t evil, the desire to inflict it is, but pain is a protection mechanism that stops us from greatly injuring ourselves.
I think evil and good are independent. Pain is evil, pleasure is good, and they are different things (though they both control our behavior).
Kelly
Originally posted by SeitseHaving a three year old to nurture teaches you a lot about psychology and it seems that sometimes if you raise them without trying to tell them whats wrong, they tend to do the right thing. If we didnt pay evil so much attention and concentrated instead on what was good, would we have less of a problem?
Would you say we are 'blanks' with no morality by default and all notions of good or bad are experiential?
intelligent beings strive towards good. the problem is that some intelligent beings choose something that is good for them and bad for others.(evil) i say that there is always a path that benefits all, just we are too lazy to look for it.
and pure evil (as in pure destruction) doesn't exist.
Originally posted by kmax87IMO, yes, it's a characteristic of humaity that civilization can only try to regulate and miniumize.
Regardless of what we may believe is evil just a characteristic of humanity that no amount of civilization will ever eradicate. That most comply with laws that lead to a peaceful happy cooperate society is there just a small percentage of wrong 'uns that will always do whatever they please whether that be engaging in acts of exploitation or violence or murder or mayhem?
Any one of us is capable of doing evil. Our conscience and "civilization" are what keep us in check.
Some people either don't have a conscience or are able to rationize to the point of overcoming it.