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Are you evil?

Are you evil?

  • Yes

    Votes: 16 44.4%

  • No

    Votes: 14 38.9%

  • Don't Know

    Votes: 6 16.7%
  • Total voters
    36
  • Poll closed .
Morality Games said:
You seem to feel compelled to phrase it altruistically. That wouldn't matter subjectively speaking.
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No, I do not believe I am phrasing things altruistically at all.

Your action definitely does not live up to the standard of perfect goodness. How good or evil it is is relative, but to the sincerity of your intentions, not your aesthetic whims.
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That perception is based on your personal morality, not mine. To me, that would be perfect goodness.

Morality is an aspect of human existence rotating around conscience, which decides whether we are doing right by other people. When conscience is active, it considers whether we have respected other people's freedom and happiness to the best of our abilities. When it is inactive, we don't care about such things; only about aesthetic pursuits and personal pleasure. Unethical people have no ability to recognize other people have needs and desires as valid as their own.
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The application of one's conscience is also relative. Doing right by people is dependant on the combination of many factors. It is not possible to ultimately "do right" by people, because, in the process, one may "do wrong" by other people.

We get our definitions for good and evil the same way we get them about gravity, except instead of physics we study the architecture of human nature.
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How each of us experiences gravity is fairly static. How each of us experiences good and evil is completely variable.
 
CaptainCourtesy said:
The application of one's conscience is also relative. Doing right by people is dependant on the combination of many factors. It is not possible to ultimately "do right" by people, because, in the process, one may "do wrong" by other people.
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Yes, that is the paradox. The founder of Shin Buddhism accepted this and believed all he could do was be true to himself and not deliberately harm another.
 
I try my best to keep it suppressed.
 
I have been evil enough in the past that I could be in prison.

I have been so good that I could have been elected neighbor of the year.
 
I have the devil in my pants.
 
I am unlawful good.
 
No, I do not believe I am phrasing things altruistically at all.
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My mistake then.

That perception is based on your personal morality, not mine. To me, that would be perfect goodness.
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That's a reiteration of your premise.

The application of one's conscience is also relative. Doing right by people is dependant on the combination of many factors. It is not possible to ultimately "do right" by people, because, in the process, one may "do wrong" by other people.
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Doing right by people means tailoring your behaviors to be considerate of their abilities and shortcomings out of sincere interest for their well being. There's nothing else anybody can do to be ethical, because ignoring them abdicates responsibility for humanity and dominating them takes away their freedom. Sometimes that might have counter-intuitive results: a person could resent you ignoring them, for trying to be kind to them, and for being cruel to them. If they are of a certain mindset there is nothing you can do to help them. It doesn't matter: nobody can predict or control the ultimate results of their actions because time and the collective nature of human behavior makes the ultimate results of our actions inscrutable.

I wouldn't expect anyone to make the world or human relationships perfect. Ethics are about respect for the best parts of other peoples' existence, not utility.

How each of us experiences gravity is fairly static. How each of us experiences good and evil is completely variable.
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The way we explain good and evil is variable, for the same reason reception to scientific theories that impose upon cherished worldviews is variable. We don't want them to get in the way, or obstruct our plans. So we think up less plausible alternatives.
 
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I believe man is inherently fallible, but this in itself does not make one evil.

No I am not evil, although I may have done things that someone else mite perceive as evil.

In the end I think it boils down to perception and intent.
 
Your Star said:
Lets see, I'm a gay, Christian southern white woman. Someone probably thinks I'm evil :lol:
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Intolerance is what is evil, not one's appearance or differences.
And what a strange question...is there any logic or reasoning behind it ?
 
earthworm said:
Intolerance is what is evil, not one's appearance or differences.
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Too broad, and self defeating. Without intolerance struggle against evil would be moot and useless.

What you have implicitly said, perhaps without realizing, is "intolerance of what I consider acceptable is what is evil".
 
Only on Thursday. :coffeepap
 
Psychoclown said:
By that definition, almost no one would qualify as evil. Even monsters like Hitler or Stalin believed their actions were justified and would not have considered themselves evil.
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Psychoclown said:
There are plenty of things I could do that would subvert your free will, life, or happiness, some that might even be considered acts of self interest, but I wouldn't consider them evil.

A basic example would be if I killed you in self defense, I would feel completely justified and my motives would've been purely about self interest (I value my life way more than I value the life of my attacker). Almost all people justify their actions and consider them to be necessary to achieve some worthwhile goal or greater good. Only cartoon villians commit villiany for the sake of the evulz!

We have subjective opinions about right and wrong, good and evil. Just look at history and we can see countless things that were perfectly acceptable or even encouraged back in the day that we find totally reprehensible now. What changed? Our definition of what is right or good and what is wrong or evil.
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Psychoclown said:
So perfect goodness would require me to abstain from attacking a murderer who is slaughtering a group of school children? That sounds like absolute pacifism, which I reject as an evil and selfish philosophy. Force, sometimes even deadly force, is at times neccessary. I don't consider violence in self defense or in the defense of others to be even slightly evil. I consider it to be noble and admirable (i.e. good), and is far better than the pacifist who holds his lofty principles above the well being of his fellow man.

So you can see just by our disagreement here that humans have subjective perceptions when it comes to good and evil.
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:yt:
QFT. Psychoclown has been hitting the nail on the head repeatedly in this thread.
 
Am I evil?

Hmmm.

As a theologically conservative Christian, I believe that the fundamental nature of Man is inherently flawed and inclined towards wrongdoing. As a parent and uncle and "godfather" of many children, I have seen that children must be taught right from wrong, that compassion is something that does not come readily to most children but selfishness is. As a former cop I've seen some truly incredible acts of evil committed by the most banal and ordinary-seeming people.

So by my upbringing, spiritual beliefs and personal experiences, I think that ALL human beings have a capacity for evil.

At the same time, I believe that there is a spark of the Divine in all of us, a potential for goodness that can be fanned into a flame or extinguished beyond recall, depending on our choices in life.

I think that duality of human nature, the struggle between good and evil within us, is far more than an old cliche, but rather a daily reality.

So, am I evil? I have the capacity for evil within me. Sometimes I have the desire to commit evil... but I struggle against it and seek to do what is right rather than what is expedient.

So in the usual sense of the word, as people usually mean it, no I am not evil. Spiritually I am tainted by sin, as is every human, but also imbued by God's grace, which is what keeps me seeking the good and resisting the evil that are both within me.
 
Goshin said:
Am I evil?

Hmmm.

As a theologically conservative Christian, I believe that the fundamental nature of Man is inherently flawed and inclined towards wrongdoing. As a parent and uncle and "godfather" of many children, I have seen that children must be taught right from wrong, that compassion is something that does not come readily to most children but selfishness is. As a former cop I've seen some truly incredible acts of evil committed by the most banal and ordinary-seeming people.

So by my upbringing, spiritual beliefs and personal experiences, I think that ALL human beings have a capacity for evil.

At the same time, I believe that there is a spark of the Divine in all of us, a potential for goodness that can be fanned into a flame or extinguished beyond recall, depending on our choices in life.

I think that duality of human nature, the struggle between good and evil within us, is far more than an old cliche, but rather a daily reality.

So, am I evil? I have the capacity for evil within me. Sometimes I have the desire to commit evil... but I struggle against it and seek to do what is right rather than what is expedient.

So in the usual sense of the word, as people usually mean it, no I am not evil. Spiritually I am tainted by sin, as is every human, but also imbued by God's grace, which is what keeps me seeking the good and resisting the evil that are both within me.
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Talk about hitting the nail on the head. :applaud
 
There is no such thing as evil. There is only correct and incorrect.
 
I am not a witch
























































I am you. :ssst:
 
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I think for purposes of this discussion, someone should define 'evil'.
 
i do things that i know to be immoral; i would say that means i have evil tendencies.
 
Evil is a hypothetical construct.
 
TheGirlNextDoor said:
I think for purposes of this discussion, someone should define 'evil'.
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Would anybody declare themselves as evil within their own definition of evil?



Charles Manson even won't... but he says other people are bad, wrong, and evil.

I personally don't think people are naturally evil or bad, or inclined to do bad things over good. I do, however, believe in the paranormal and supernatural and I think such beings (demons, ghosts, black majic, elementals, etc.) is where evil really exists. I think it can affect people, influence, and take over them, but that people aren't naturally that way.

I do think Manson is crazy and that he was not socialized like most people (born to a prostitute, grew up with abuse and drugs, and raised in the penal system). Drugs also messed him up, but I still don't think even he is entirely evil. Many of his problems could have been caused by growing up around anti social behavior and his environment... not inborn evil.
 
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