#12: Good and Evil

bacon

bacon

!!!!!
Member
Before I start, I would like to ask a favour. As quite a lot of these threads have now been made, I am running somewhat low on ideas. If you have any suggestions for discussion topics, feel free to PM me.

Now then!

"How do you define Good and Evil? Is there a definition of it that can be accepted for all of society, or it is determined through individual perception?"
 
I think, basically everyone is evil at heart, but some people subdued their inner evil. Other people have staved off their inner evil, and thus are good.
 
scampy said:
Before I start, I would like to ask a favour. As quite a lot of these threads have now been made, I am running somewhat low on ideas. If you have any suggestions for discussion topics, feel free to PM me a list.

Now then!

"How do you define Good and Evil? Is there a definition of it that can be accepted for all of society, or it is determined through individual perception?"
Click to expand...

It's what we define ourself through our own experience and upbringing (And usually through society). It generally goes by the rule of thumb: "I don't someone else to experience this" and so you disapprove of whatever it is. But it's harder to actually live it up when you are given the chance.

Thing is, there is no good without evil and vica versa. But the balance can be lost like it is now in today's society.

Sweet Dawn Berlitz said:
I think, basically everyone is evil at heart, but some people subdued their inner evil. Other people have staved off their inner evil, and thus are good.
Click to expand...

Wrong, there is GOOD in every hart. Pain (done by someone else or by your own mistakes) just let's the 'evil' seep in.
 
Well, I think the definition for good and evil is merely determined through individual perception - one person may feel something is more good or evil than another person. Laws are meant to be followed and are normally considered to be "good", but some may feel that some laws that prohibit certain things (such as certain equality restrictions, like marriage), for example, are evil.

So... Yeah. I honestly think it's all about perception... Which is one of the many reasons why there may never be true peace. xP
 
Actually, my post doesn't make much sense. Some people have released their inner evil and have become a drone to it. It sounds like everyone has kept themselves from being evil, when there have been several people horribly evil and cruel in the history of the world.

It's really a matter of self-control and how they can keep the balance of good and evil in check.
 
I see it as being an option you can choose to life your life in a certain way. of course, negative actions are rewarded by negative things and same goes for positive things, tho society hampers the good IMHO.
 
You're right, if you do good things, good things will happen. If you do bad things, bad things will happen.
 
So what basis are our laws built upon? At what point does something become evil/good? Individual perception is one thing, but what about society as a whole? (Just fuelin' the discussion here)
 
I'll make this quick and just respond later :D

1st of all, I don't think there's such a thing as absolute good and absolute evil. There are no absolutes, life's a grey area. As easy as saying stuff like "murder is evil" would be, there's always 2 sides to every story.

But anyhow, good and evil make quite a lot of sense from an evolutionary perspective. Murder is evil, because when there's too many murder within a group of animals, it obviously won't be able to survive natural selection. Same goes for lying, what's the point of communicating when a lot of what's being said is a lie? So there's certain bounds to how you can behave within a group, and these bounds roughly define good and evil. Of course there's the golden rule as well (do not do upon others what you don't want other to do upon you or whatever), which also helps define evil.

IMO, an act of good is when you stop being selfish and care about others before yourself. This again also helps the group.
I don't want to label everyone who donates to charity as good either, not even when it's not done for publicity. If you make millions, or even billions, and think that donating a bit of money whilst living in this huge mansion drinking the finest champagne every day is "good", you're one big hypocrite in my eyes.

What I personally find despicable is when you base your idea of good and evil on a holy book or whatever. Worse even is when you dare claim that non-religious people have no concept of good and evil (just being cautious here :p). I personally think that religion can even distort the idea of good and evil. When you think there's absolutes like that, or think that every act which would be favourable for your deity is good, you might engage in acts no rational person would ever engage in. Just think of terrorists as an extreme example for this.
But then again, this goes for all revolutionary ideas as well. Anything which defines things as absolute goods or evils is doing something fundamentally wrong IMO. If anything is pure evil, it's that.
 
I think Heavenly Spoon :F hit it on the head. I really can't describe it really. But, the rules were created because every Founding Fathers created the rules to make everyone equal.
 
Heavenly Spoon :F said:
I'll make this quick and just respond later :D

1st of all, I don't think there's such a thing as absolute good and absolute evil. There are no absolutes, life's a grey area. As easy as saying stuff like "murder is evil" would be, there's always 2 sides to every story.
Agreed. Maybe the person that got killed was meant to day in that way. Or, who are we to say which animal species lives or dies? We are already the cause of many, many extinct animals (Dodo being the most known example.)
But anyhow, good and evil make quite a lot of sense from an evolutionary perspective. Murder is evil, because when there's too many murder within a group of animals, it obviously won't be able to survive natural selection. Same goes for lying, what's the point of communicating when a lot of what's being said is a lie? So there's certain bounds to how you can behave within a group, and these bounds roughly define good and evil. Of course there's the golden rule as well (do not do upon others what you don't want other to do upon you or whatever), which also helps define evil.
Murder is maybe for crowd control on a subconscious level. I mean, we are swarming in numbers as species and we keep taking in more and more space..and I know nature uses murder usually as crowd control
IMO, an act of good is when you stop being selfish and care about others before yourself. This again also helps the group.
I don't want to label everyone who donates to charity as good either, not even when it's not done for publicity. If you make millions, or even billions, and think that donating a bit of money whilst living in this huge mansion drinking the finest champagne every day is "good", you're one big hypocrite in my eyes.

What I personally find despicable is when you base your idea of good and evil on a holy book or whatever. Worse even is when you dare claim that non-religious people have no concept of good and evil (just being cautious here :p). I personally think that religion can even distort the idea of good and evil. When you think there's absolutes like that, or think that every act which would be favourable for your deity is good, you might engage in acts no rational person would ever engage in. Just think of terrorists as an extreme example for this.
But then again, this goes for all revolutionary ideas as well. Anything which defines things as absolute goods or evils is doing something fundamentally wrong IMO. If anything is pure evil, it's that.
Click to expand...

Some responses in bold. It just keeps confirming the difference between good and bad/evil IMHO. Good things make you feel good and you want to stick to it. However, evil that causes hurt, is like poison that you can get easily addicted too. It's your choice to make a difference in any way.

Choose to live in pain and negativity? Go ahead and make your day while crossing other people's boundaries to get what you want when you want it. Choose to live to combat pain, heal and help others? You are now up for a big fight with great rewards lying in the future.

EDIT: Enforcing your will on people is always bad. *Looks at some things immigrants have to do in some countries*
 
I don't think nature "uses" murder in any way. Natural selection is based on survivability, not on being able to control growth. I could see it being used as a punishment of sorts, and eating the elderly would make sense in times of need I guess, but I doubt these are really the reasons for murder. I know a lot of spiders and insects kill their mate after intercourse, but I don't know the purpose of this...
But basically, I think, for mammals at least, murder is not something we should normally engage in.
 
No, not at all obviously. Just looking at a greater picture here. Like you said, there are 2 sides, even to murder.
 
True, but I meant this from an individual perspective (there's always a reason, it might be a terrible one, but it's a reason none the less). From a natural (and therefore an evolutionary) perspective it doesn't seem quite as useful...
Nature killed us before we could kill ourselves anyway.
 
Well some people that do bad things think evil is good and that they justify what they are doing, it is all a matter of perception.
Personally if you make anyone feel bad (not sick or book tragedy bad, purposfully bad) that is evil and if you make someone feel good on purpose that is good.
 
I'm sure that spoon is going to bash this one around...

As for good and evil, try reading the Bible. It gives a pretty good idea of what good is, and what evil is. Let's for the sake of argument say that God doesn't exist. You STILL can't deny that the basic idea's of what's good and what's evil presented in the Bible are pretty good. If a person would actually live his or her life as the Bible tells, then by pretty much anyone's standards they would be living a good life. The same can be said about most peaceful religions. Before anyone says anything, people very often do very evil things in the name of religion. They're not actually doing what their religion tells them they should do, but rather changing their religion to justify what they want to do.

As for topic suggestions, we could do whether or not Quortez (or how ever the heck you spell his name) destroyed the aztecs or actually helped them. I'm sure this would provide some interesting debate.
 
I don't define them, because IMO they can't be defined. It's up to interpretion and opinion for individuals and society as a whole.

dmaster out.
 
I don't think good and evil exist. If a person thinks that killing is good, why do we have any right to say that it isn't? I belive that it is wrong, but not good or bad. I think that good/bad is interpretation, and right and wrong is controlled by God. (Or nature for all you athiests.)
 
Jumping right into the topic here, good generally in my mind refers to what benefits the common good, but generally is confused as good=conformity. Which is not true. Evil is the opposite, and consists of selfishness and pain. However, I don't believe anyone is pure good or pure evil. There is evil and good in everyone, no matter how deep in you they are.

Good and Evil is like Love and Hate, there's a fine line between them, and often some amount of gray area, since it is focused on people opinion, and there is absolutely nothing factual about it. Hitler believed killing Jew's was good, I believe it's bad. Now obviously ethnic cleansing is something evil, because it's not for the common good, and the people that think it is have a clear misconception of the world, but even that is just point of view.
 
DarthPika said:
I'm sure that spoon is going to bash this one around...

As for good and evil, try reading the Bible. It gives a pretty good idea of what good is, and what evil is. Let's for the sake of argument say that God doesn't exist. You STILL can't deny that the basic idea's of what's good and what's evil presented in the Bible are pretty good. If a person would actually live his or her life as the Bible tells, then by pretty much anyone's standards they would be living a good life. The same can be said about most peaceful religions. Before anyone says anything, people very often do very evil things in the name of religion. They're not actually doing what their religion tells them they should do, but rather changing their religion to justify what they want to do.

As for topic suggestions, we could do whether or not Quortez (or how ever the heck you spell his name) destroyed the aztecs or actually helped them. I'm sure this would provide some interesting debate.
Click to expand...

I can slap you around with a large trout just like Spoon can....but so can almost everyone...

Who denies is? If your entire concept of good and evil is from some dusty 1000 y/o book, then you aren't up to date with the real world as the real world isn't as 100% inclined with 'what god wants' or the 'bible says'. But let's not continue this further as it could open Pandora's box.

About the 'aztects' and Cortez, click the link in my sig. It might not be according to your religion, but some of it is actually true.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top