The other
day, Colleen asked me how I define evil. My reply was that I don’t, because
evil implies someone who does harm through malicious intent. I feel that most
people who cause harm do so unintentionally – or, at the very least, think they
have the best intentions.
It did get
me thinking, though. If I really had to define evil, how would I do it? What
causes people to cause harm?
Greed was
what I came up with first. Greed for wealth or greed for power or greed for
anything, really. That’s where evil, if it truly exists, is most visible. It
causes people to stockpile money, harming the economy by making less money
available to go around. It causes politicians to lie so they can get elected.
It starts wars over land or resources. Almost all evil can be linked back to
greed.
Yet, even
most of those people don’t view themselves as evil. They feel they’re doing
what they must, or perhaps what everyone else is doing.
That got my
mind on the track of how people can cause so much harm and either be unaware or
think it’s okay. It brought me to the essence of what motivates people: what
they believe. Someone who lives on the streets and must steal to survive might
view those who do not help them as evil, and would they be wrong? Is it not
more evil to allow someone to starve to death than to help them survive? At the
same time, the people being stolen from would view the thief as evil, and would
they be wrong? After all, stealing to
feed oneself without concern for those being harmed is more evil than choosing
to starve to death.
Both sides
have merit, yet neither will budge from their positions. Their views and
beliefs are set in stone. They each know with certainty that they are good, and
the other is evil.
So it was
that I arrived at the best definition of evil I could come up with.
All it
takes to be evil is to believe you are right and that there is no possibility
you are wrong.
If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.
(Edited from an original post from your blog I deleted by accident before posting....its rushed but has the core ideas)
ReplyDelete3 "evils" exist according to modern theory on morality:
1) Natural evil (such as a predator, natural disaster or dangerous substance...needless to say there is no morality in nature it just is as it is to best exist....insanity, in a stretched way, can fit here, as most forms of psychosis render a person unable to understand their actions, therefore there was no moral choice, just a "perceived evil result')
2) Moral evil: Most humans make the mistake on thinking because it goes against your subjective ethics, its evil....is it evil to steal? depends...it is usually illegal, however, slavery was once legal so not a good measuring tool on morality. Every "bad" thing we do as a species, from theft, to torture, to manipulation, to murder, to abuse, to rape, to betrayal, to genocide, has had its uses in continuing our species and at one time was a celebrated aspect of our race for that specific situation (very twisted for modern people to hear, but its simply a sad truth). We simply have evolved socially to deem these unnecessary and bad behaviors but if we to revert several thousand years socially, they would certain come back as real options for perpetuation or your genes.
3) Cosmic evil (of "evil for evil's sake") is rare and mostly abstract, appearing as fantasy villains, obscure gods, demons/devils and the like....they know what they do is hurtful but they do it simply because they feel that they are called to, not because it is right or even serves a purpose. Real people who behave this way are rare indeed....the song "When You're Evil" (Artist: Voltaire) is an example of this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxJrjV4PNXA