What is Evil?

Polymath257 said:

Evil is when you get enjoyment out of harming another.

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That's good. It gets right to the heart of the matter.


Although, thinking about it and considering situations in war, . . . I would amend it to: "Evil is when you get enjoyment out of unnecessarily harming another." Because I can imagine a soldier enjoying harming or killing a vicious enemy without being evil.

Sunstone said:

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

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Evil is intent to do harm, and usually requires a moral agent. I would say that it is unfortunate and sad if someone dies of a bacterial infection, but I would hardly call the bacteria "evil".

How that definition applies to real life situations is a bit rough because there is nothing simple about morality, but I think there are generalities that remain true.

Sunstone said:

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

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Defining Evil : The wrong decision by a person or persons that hurts others .

Sunstone said:

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?

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Not everyone understands the meaning and value of having a safe-word. And even less well known is the idea of a continuation-word.

Evil, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Just like beauty, it is purely a subjective judgment. We know "evil" when we see it. We know "evil" when we experience it.

So imagine a religion where your salvation depends on other people's subjective judgments on whether or not you have sinned. And then consider with such a religion you cannot buy your absolution from the church, you cannot exercise away your sins with rituals of forgiveness, and the only way you can achieve salvation is by seeking forgiveness from the person you have "sinned" against according to THEIR judgment of what is sin, what is not sin, and what is to be forgiven. What if your own absolution depended on the people you have sinned against would you then behave differently? Going to the church for absolution is a crutch for the weak in spirit who do not take responsibility for their own lives.

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.)

Sunstone said:

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?

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'bad' is 'of poor quality or a low standard' or 'not such as to be hoped for or desired; unpleasant or unwelcome'

'evil' is 'profoundly immoral and malevolent' or 'harmful or tending to harm'

when bad gets more extreme is gets worse, not evil.
If a car of poor quality and gets worse, it doesn't become evil.... it ceases to function.

Evil is not a physical (material) thing (like we think of most things). The act of blowing up a car is not necessarily evil. Evil requires intention.
One person blows up a car for a movie set.
Another person blows up a car to kill someone.
They are not the same.

One person kills someone to defend himself.
Another person kills someone because of envy of perceived status.
They are not the same.

Understand the hearts of people, then understand what evil is.

Orbit said:

Evil is that which disrupts the social order. Murder is evil because you couldn't have a coherent society with everyone murdering each other. Same with adultery, who will know whose kids should inherit if parentage is unclear? Or that adultery leads to crimes of passion. If you scratch the surface of any "evil" you will find a threat to the social order.

Of course that's a very anthropological way of thinking of it, but I think it makes sense.

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I'm probably confused here, but doesn't that suppose all rebellious behaviour is evil?
That seems completely off.

Evil is how we describe bad behaviour when we wish to dehumanise it.

Ponder This said:

One person kills someone to defend himself.
Another person kills someone because of envy of perceived status.
They are not the same.

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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.

Sir Doom said:

Evil is the term we use to separate ourselves from those who do things we don't want them to do. By labeling something 'evil' we can safely treat them like rabid animals that bear no resemblance to us 'good' people. Its like a social defense mechanism. My long absent two cents.

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*squints*

Have you been back for a while/much of late?
I feel like I should have noticed. Anywhoos, nice to see you posting.

Sunstone said:

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

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I am of the opinion that evil is a human construct created by society. What makes something evil is human perception.

Sunstone said:

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?

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Again, I don't see it as referring to the individual at all, except maybe @Terese. Evil is a product of the one doing the perceiving.

A sociopath, psychopath, or a fundamental religious group may perceive their behavior as acceptable or even benevolent. Examples include murder and beheadings, actions perceived in most cultures in society as evil, but completely acceptable to that particular group.



Can anyone demonstrate perception of evil outside of humankind?

The etymology of evil is interesting...

The term was popularized with the Anglo Saxons it seems.

evil | Origin and meaning of evil by Online Etymology Dictionary

lewisnotmiller said:

*squints*

Have you been back for a while/much of late?
I feel like I should have noticed. Anywhoos, nice to see you posting.

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My friends suggested I find a different outlet for my compulsive debate syndrome. So, I have returned.

Sunstone said:

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?

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lest we digress in error

good and bad refer to the condition of a thing
right and wrong are labels of moral issues
correct and incorrect are the answers to questions
good and evil are to the nature of spirit

lewisnotmiller said:

I'm probably confused here, but doesn't that suppose all rebellious behaviour is evil?
That seems completely off.

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It's a matter of degree. If my teenager won't do the chores, that doesn't rise to the level of evil--it has to threaten the social structure itself.

Sunstone said:

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?

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According to Matthew 6:22-23, evil is having a "compound eye" or a dualistic view of the world and life such as "good vs. bad", "right vs. wrong", "up vs. down", etc. This would at it's core belief mean that a person believes they are separated from God in some (no matter how small) way. Most churches teach this "evil belief" and they call it "sin". How could this be possible if God is omnipresent? Of course, by teaching it and believing it, it becomes true for them even though it's not true in reality.

The freedom of choice is where the ability to do evil lies.
If we can say that if "good" is love and that evil hate, than we are to choose.

outlawState said:

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?

The flip side of the coin is intention does not seem to be particularly relevant. 3,152 civilians have been killed in coalition airstrikes in Syria. What does it matter what the intention of the pilot / general was? The evil consequence is the same whatever the intent.

Intention goes to mens rea, or criminal responsibility, regardless of the objective evil of the act itself.

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Chastisement does no harm. Some parents do more harm by psychologically abusing their child, and that is evil. Corporal punishment is illegal under Canada's criminal code, lumped together with assault.

The evil in the airstrike is not the general's or the pilot's specifically, but in that the circumstance is allowable by the government, and by the citizens of a country who condone the actions of the government.

Orbit said:

It's a matter of degree. If my teenager won't do the chores, that doesn't rise to the level of evil--it has to threaten the social structure itself.

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

lewisnotmiller said:

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

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No taxation without representation! We swear this isn't greed in response to greed!