The Pros And Cons Of Evil

“Evil is the exercise of power. And that's the key: it's about power. To intentionally harm people psychologically, to hurt people physically, to destroy people mortally, or ideas, and to commit crimes against humanity.” When removed from the societal structures that dictate appropriate behavior people will revert to uncivil and often malicious behavior, as we see in Golding’s Lord of the Flies when a group of adolescent boys quickly transition from a structured, governed, society among themselves into violence and cruelty. The horrific acts performed by the boys point to the conclusion that humans as a whole are innately evil, and, if removed from societal expectations, people will give in to their most animalistic impulses.

Buddhism also views god and evil as innate and inseparable aspects of life. According to this view one particular individual cannot be labelled as fundamentally good or bad. A human being is capable of committing the greatest good as well as the worst of the evils. Good and Evil in Buddhism are not viewed as absolute, but as relative. Good and Evil are understood according to its consequences in our lives and its effect on others. Evil is mainly born of selfishness and of the feeling that our actions should be aimed at benefitting ourselves. In Buddhism while good represents

When someone is asked what is evil, the first thing that usually comes to mind is murder. Dennis Prager(nationally syndicated radio talk show host) said “Murder is [evil] because we understand that if everyone killed everyone they wanted to kill, chaos would ensue.” Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary definition of evil, which I agree with, is, “morally bad; causing harm or injury to someone; marked by bad luck or bad events.” Murder meets that definition perfectly and is a reasonable way to think of something evil, but is all murder evil? That might be a very unruly thing to ask, but is it really? For example, if a young boy is cutting something and he accidently kills his sibling, is that evil? His intention wasn’t to murder him

As Hick said it “evil is unambiguously evil, and stands in direct opposition to God’s will”

The reason that we even have an experience of a perceived evil is because for the soul to experience itself as any particular thing, the exact opposite of that thing must come into the realm of existence. In other words, in this relative existence, hot cannot be hot without cold, darkness cannot be without light, and you cannot be you without that which is not you. So I believe that what we call evil is just the opposite end of the spectrum of good, not something separate.

The difference between good and evil varies from people. To some you might have to do big great things in order to be “good” as a person. For some people you do not have to do anything at all and still considered good. It is all about morals, which everyone grows up with different morals. Evil might be looked at as someone that hurts people every day just because they know they can. His or her sole purpose is to make sure that everyone feels down when around them. Fascinatingly people can also be evil by sitting back and doing nothing. For example, if someone is in a fight with more than one person, and losing, some people will do nothing. This brings me back to morals. One may think that just by sitting and doing nothing, you are a good person because you

The most influential definition of evil is nicely summarised by Swinburne proclaimed when discussing about evil, context is very important factors to consider when talking about the subject of evil he said evil include physical pain, for

Now that I have discussed where evil originated, I want to provide a brief definition of evil. Most people will agree that evil is any cruel act, serious harm to another person mentally or physically. It can also be identified in a level of evil meaning people tend to feel that the more harm done to a person the greater the level of evil. Some examples of evil are acts of murder or abuse that harms another human being or animals. While I do agree with this definition of evil, I also think there is another crucial part of the definition. It is that evil itself is an act against the law of God. The Bible uses the word evil to define anything that is in violation of God’ law. In the connection between good and bad, evil is also seen as the absence of goodness. A simple way to understand the connection is that evil is a “fundamental and troubling departure from goodness” (Alcorn, 2009, p. 25). Alcorn’s view of evil is a complete absence and rejection of God’s goodness. I completely agree with this definition of evil, but I also understand that not all people believe in my God or any God for that matter. Atheists also identify evil in the world and they would agree with me on some acts that I think are evil. However, their definition does not include God. For example, Humanists believe there is good without God. They see the evil in the world and believe they must

By definition, evil is an act or feeling that is “profoundly immoral and malevolent”. The problem is that evil is a subjective term. Each person sees evil differently.

How does one characterize good and evil? Throughout time, people have asked this question and only received opinions based on references from

People use the word evil to describe a supernatural force that inhabits people that makes them do those things they do, but as David Frankfurt says that evil is not something real, it is a “discourse,” a “way of representing things and shaping our experience, not some force in itself.” Evil did not kill those people, a man did, a man with flaws, a man who did not decide to become evil but became it through living life. A man who thought these reasons were justified, who thought what he was doing had some good purpose to it. So what does make something evil?

To try and understand why evil exists in the world is almost as hard a question to answer as “why do we exist”. I’ve read through many different articles and short stories written by different professors who study in the fields of Theodicy and Philosophy. What I’ve learned first, is that there are so many different angles to come from in trying understand why there is evil in this world. I think the first question we have to ask is what do we consider to be evil? It seems like the answer should be obvious, but what someone might consider evil, another person may not. For example, there are some people in this world who feel that entrapping or enclosing wild animals in places such as zoos or aquariums is evil, while many others do not. Another example is hunting animals for clothing, sport, or even food. Many people think that hunting and killing animals for various reasons is evil, while many do not. On top of defining evil, we should know if the question refers to only the evil inflicted by humans, or the evils of nature as

Evil in this context is regarding to all suffering, pain and horror. Evil can be categorized as natural evil and moral evil. Natural evil is that which occurs by natural means e.g. earthquakes, tsunamis etc. Moral evil is that which is imposed on humans by humans e.g.

To understand evil we must first understand the concept that good and evil are term or words referring to what one given individuals believes to be the right and wrong thing to do. Good, many times

Evil is the extreme moral wickedness that results in the suffering of others. This can come in two forms, physical evils and moral evils. Good is moral right that strengthens and brings joy to people. One of the greatest evils of humanity was killing Jesus Christ the Son of God. However, this resulted in one of the greatest goods in our world. Good Friday occurring meant that the world could be saved from death. No matter the degree, I believe that all evil can result in some good.