How do you define evil?

kenpodragon

How do you define evil? Is evil what you are told is evil or is it a personal matter that you decide for yourself?

I ask, as many people will say something is evil. Having known nothing about it. Now I realize, there are something's in life that this works with. For example, I do not need to burn my hand in the fire to know it is hot ... I feel it from a distance. What I am speaking of, if someone says a statue, religion, or person is evil. Will you accept that, or will you actually look into it on your own to see if the information is correct.

The problem I see with many people, is that they define evil based on what is different. This type of thinking has plagued mankind for thousands of years. Evil and fear seem to go hand and hand.

So, as a personal question to each. How do you define evil?

Just wondering

Ephanyminitas

How do I define "evil"? HTML formatting -- that's how!

No, really, I don't believe in Evil. I feel it's a concept made up by religious fanatics to make people believe in higher powers. There IS no Evil.

Take, for example, Adolf Hilter, who is arguably the most hated man in history. He wasn't evil. There was nothing inherently "bad" about him. In the end, he was just a very sick man. He was demented, sick, and twisted -- but evil? No, I don't think so. He -- like Osama bin Laden -- is a person with severe psychological issues.

Evil -- in this broad sense -- is nothing but superstition, meant to make you believe in higher powers, "sin," and things like that.

Bah!

E

glitter

If any person or government intentionally acts in a way that hurts or damages a person or thing and does so with malice and/or is pleased/apathetic that it meant people or things got hurt, then that's evil.

So I'd say somebody who tortures and kills an animal is evil, but somebody putting an animal to sleep isn't. (D'uh) (I was going to use murder and euthanasia as an example but I didn't want to offend anyone)

I don't think I'd say something was evil or I hated something just because I was told to. I hope not anyway.

Realist

Ephanyminitas,

i totally agree with you. probably neither evil nor free will does really exist.

Xander

Well, from Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary:

evil\E"vil\ ([=e]"v'l) n. 1. Anything which impairs the happiness of a being or deprives a being of any good; anything which causes suffering of any kind to sentient beings; injury; mischief; harm; -- opposed to good.

Evils which our own misdeeds have wrought. --Milton.

The evil that men do lives after them. --Shak.

2. Moral badness, or the deviation of a moral being from the principles of virtue imposed by conscience, or by the will of the Supreme Being, or by the principles of a lawful human authority; disposition to do wrong; moral offence; wickedness; depravity.

The heart of the sons of men is full of evil. --Eccl. ix. 3.

3. malady or disease; especially in the phrase king's evil, the scrofula. [R.] --Shak.

1 is obviously valid. 2 is not. 3 is archaic and no longer used.

Gerard

Evil = Complete lack of empathy.

Shunning is evil.

ThiChi

Here is one viewpoint:

""Theologians define Evil as a supernatural force vying against God to corrupt mankind. Secular humanists define Evil as any behavior that enhances an individual's success at the expense of the success of others. And I define Evil as the enjoyment I get from watching thousands of innocents squirm in terror as I destroy the very underpinnings of everything they believe and hold dear in my quest to command supreme domination over all life. EVIL IS NOT A PHILOSOPHY. IT IS NEITHER A MEANS NOR AN END. IT IS AN ATTITUDE AND A LIFESTYLE. Make no excuses. Support no ideology. Never explain. You're EVIL. Just do it.
--Commodore Vierundsechzig, Supreme Leader of the International Brotherhood of Rapscallions""

A Paduan

Basically any 'darkness' of the mind to the light of truth.

In modern language it could be described as unintelligence to spirit, whether it be active or passive.

paduan

Edited by - a paduan on 17 September 2002 18:24:34

OUTLAW

How do I define evil?.. Carrying on conduct you know is hurting someone else and doing nothing about it..Like when WBTS let all those people die in Malowe for 25cents each...OUTLAW

ThiChi

"Shunning is evil"

With respect, I disagree. Standing up to evil can include shunning. It is the misuse of shunning that is evil.

How do you define evil?

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