What is Evil?

[Orbit]

Let's use a more practical example of what I mean...
Let's say the American revolution.

Well, the British would classify that as evil lol. I would argue the basic structure of society didn't change, just the political system. Or I could say war in general is evil. Not sure.

 

[nPeace]

What is evil? Tough question!

I think I have to start with the notion of "intent:" that is, what is done to harm intentionally seems to me to qualify as evil. Lots and lots of natural events, accidents and so forth cause harm -- lots and lots of it, actually -- but in the absence of an intentional cause, I may describe these as tragedy, misfortune, calamity and so on. But I do not think I would call them evil.

On the other hand, harm done to another with full intent must always be considered evil in my view. It's why, for example, I despise capital punishment, or the missionary impetus to take the cultural and religious beliefs of others away from them, because they don't coincide with their own. That's evil.

@outlawState asked, "What about corporal or any chastisement of a child. The intention is to harm, but how could it be evil if done in good faith?" I say, if the intention is to harm, then whatever the faith, it is evil. If the intention is to correct behaviours that may eventually harm the child, then even in the best of faith they may be misguided, or ignorant, but not evil. And tragically, many children have been irreparably harmed, even killed, but such "good faith," but surely this is tragedy, not evil! (Though, since I really don't think ignorance is any excuse, I must still hold the parents culpable, but I do so with sadness and regret, rather than condemnation of evil.)

And if there is a "personal God," meaning quite explicitly one possessed of intention, and the result of that God's creation is needlessly harmful to what it has created, then I think that would be evil, too. A naturally caused volcano that kills people and decimates property is a calamity. A "destroyer" sent to intelligently pick out and kill all first born children is evil. ​

This is what I was trying to explain here.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

Well, the British would classify that as evil lol. I would argue the basic structure of society didn't change, just the political system. Or I could say war in general is evil. Not sure.

Ok. I wouldn't see social change as 'evil' since I don't classify social cohesion (which has included fun things like slavery or denial of human rights in other ways to groups based on gender or race) as 'good'. To me, that can vary enormously.

Some New Guinea tribes were cannibals. Overthrowing existing society in that case could be considered 'good'.

Anyway, just my view. Since I don't believe in objective evil, it's more a theoretical discussion forme anyway.

 

[TurkeyOnRye]

Is evil merely an extreme form of bad? Or is there more to it than that? What makes something evil?

I tend to regard evil as the infliction of suffering for the sake of itself, but that's a difficult criterion to fulfill in absolute terms, as I imagine there is typically some corrupt underlying morality in any given circumstance.

 

[Ponder This]

While I would agree that these situations are different, I would still say assigning the quality of evil to either one would be totaly subjective, and more to the point, arbitrary.

Why does the person defending themselves have any more right to kill than anyone else? If I kill a police officer while they're attacking me with handcuffs I'm sure I'll have a hard time claiming the moral high ground. Conversly, if I remove a French king's head on account of his rather unpopular social status I'm likely to labeled a hero for decades to come.

The label is given to justify harm to the labeled. To insulate ourselves from guilt from within and judgment from without.

Excellent response and you are right. But the question of evil is not simply whether or not actions are justified by a court somewhere. It isn't a question about whether or not a person has permission from society to do things. Resisting arrest isn't evil; it's unlawful. That an action is unlawful, is not sufficient to qualify an action as evil. I realize that people label actions as evil and label actions as self-defense. But I say that labeling an action as evil isn't enough to truly make the action evil and that labeling an action as self-defense isn't truly enough to make the action self-defense.

 

[Robert Landbeck]

Is evil merely an extreme form of bad? Or is there more to it than that? What makes something evil?



BONUS QUESTION: We often hear someone say that @Terese is evil. Does that refer to their behavior, the consequences of their behavior, something in their nature, or to something else?

What is evil? The intentional deception of what is 'right' for what is wrong, confusing what is true for what is false. Reviewing a study of more than three hundred references among the scriptural record, both canonical and non, the theme most consistent is the moral deception of others. And while moral deception can happen throughout any level of society, at the religious level, teaching a false Gospel is probably the gravest error any human being can make. And earns the deceiver the title of anti-chirst.

 

[Sir Doom]

Excellent response and you are right. But the question of evil is not simply whether or not actions are justified by a court somewhere. It isn't a question about whether or not a person has permission from society to do things. Resisting arrest isn't evil; it's unlawful. That an action is unlawful, is not sufficient to qualify an action as evil.

I agree that it is more than that, but it is that also. I don't think it's unreasonable to imagine more than one jury conviction hinging directly on that jury's collective idea of evil. I don't mean to say that our justice system determines what is evil and what isn't, but a jury is just people.

We are meant to be objective in these situations and I think most of us are capable of that to a certain degree, but not all of us are going to eliminate our notion of evil from the equation.

The point though is that I couldn't appeal to self-defense to eliminate evil from my act of murdering an arresting officer.

I realize that people label actions as evil and label actions as self-defense. But I say that labeling an action as evil isn't enough to truly make the action evil and that labeling an action as self-defense isn't truly enough to make the action self-defense.

I don't think anything is truly evil. It is, in my opinion, only a label. The way it is acted upon demonstrates that. People harm things that they consider evil. They punish it. When you dig into what they punish there are often underlying reasons that demonstrate the quality of evil is added after the punishment as a justification for it.

Self defense is a little more straight forward in definition, but I would guess it's the most often used justification for violence in history. Not just because people use the term erroneously, but also because defending oneself is violent (at least in this context). Ghandi and others have demonstrated that violence is not a necessary response to violence we can certainly choose to get hurt/killed on behalf of our values. Not that I personally agree that one should. Only that we are capable of choosing to die rather than to kill for our life. Self-defense then becomes little more than saying, "I am worth more."

 

[Seven headed beast]

What you need to understand is that the cosmic "law of laws" is the yin and yang.

Absolutely everything is bound to and based upon the yin and yang.

There is a balance that must be maintained, and for absolutely every "light" there is a "dark". For every "good" there is a "bad". For every up there is a down.

Hermes, who happens to be the "hardest working" god in the cosmos, has been here to help us understand this in so many different avatars, each with the very same message. His most well known, besides Hermes, are " Thoth, the Egyptian god of just about every thing, Quetzalcoatl, the Mayan god of twins( light and dark, respectively), Ningui****a the Sumerian god of the caduceus(which is two serpents twisted around a rod), Ashoka the Indian king who spent half of his life trying to make up for the other half of it. But his most well understood avatar was that of Sir Isaac Newton.

So, you take Thoth and his "as above so below" and then there is Newton with his "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction" and his "what goes up, must come down".

This is what Hermes has been here so many times trying to impart to us.

For absolutely every "good" there is a "bad".

It is a balance that must be maintained. So, for absolutely everyone that is perfectly light, there is a counterpart that is "dark".

"Sin" is actually a construct of the church, and not a consideration in terms of the big picture. What the church consider to be "sin" may not necessarily be a problem with the "Old Man", who you may know of a "God".

So, what the point is, is that while there is a "darkness" in the world, there is no hard and fast "evil".

 

[Ponder This]

I agree that it is more than that, but it is that also. I don't think it's unreasonable to imagine more than one jury conviction hinging directly on that jury's collective idea of evil. I don't mean to say that our justice system determines what is evil and what isn't, but a jury is just people.

We are meant to be objective in these situations and I think most of us are capable of that to a certain degree, but not all of us are going to eliminate our notion of evil from the equation.

I suppose it's easy to be confused by subjective assessments. How far away from the color blue can you get before it finally stops being the color blue? But cobalt continues to have a specific spectrum. Evil is still evil even if people get confused and say things are evil that aren't evil.

The point though is that I couldn't appeal to self-defense to eliminate evil from my act of murdering an arresting officer.

That's a fine point. In fact, how do we know your appeal to self-defense isn't an evil act? Are you concealing a murderous intent?

I think if you kill an arresting officer, people are going to ask: why did you do that?
Well? Why did you?
Evil isn't just about generic actions. It's about malevolent intent.

Self defense is a little more straight forward in definition, but I would guess it's the most often used justification for violence in history. Not just because people use the term erroneously, but also because defending oneself is violent (at least in this context). Ghandi and others have demonstrated that violence is not a necessary response to violence we can certainly choose to get hurt/killed on behalf of our values. Not that I personally agree that one should. Only that we are capable of choosing to die rather than to kill for our life. Self-defense then becomes little more than saying, "I am worth more."

Is saying, "I am worth more" evil though?
Maybe it's evil to value yourself as less than what you are.

Answering these questions is a matter of deep reflection.
In Buddhism, they practice Ahimsa, which means 'not to harm' and 'compassion'. Their aim is not necessarily to know what is evil, but to realize enlightenment. To awaken to reality.

 

[atanu]

Is evil merely an extreme form of bad? Or is there more to it than that? What makes something evil?

Modified from Mr. Chittaranjan Nayak:

The cause of evil lies in ignorance. Nobody does an evil deed in the full light of knowledge - he/she simply can't. The thief, the murderer, the worst of the diabolics, are all impelled by the same motive - to fulfil a need created due to the seeming privation of their innate being, lack of knowledge of one's all pervading knowledge nature. Evil stems from actions initiated from the premise of "I am this body-mind".

The following is the Vedantic understanding:

The Problem of Evil

BONUS QUESTION: We often hear someone say that @Terese is evil. Does that refer to their behavior, the consequences of their behavior, something in their nature, or to something else?

'the consequences of their behaviour' is true for all of us. 'Karma' rules.

 

[YeshuaRedeemed]

My opinion is that evil is something or someone outside God's will.