This question has been bothering me for a while now because it seems that no one I know can find an answer to it that satisfies me: What is the difference between good and evil?
To tell the truth, I see no difference. “Evil” only wishes to rule the world the way they think it should be done, and “good” wants exactly the same thing. “Good” wants to rid the world of “evil” the same way “evil” wants to rule the world of “good.” Some people say that “evil” tortures the “good” people, but do not “good” people torture “evil” people when they catch them?
It may be partially because of these beliefs that it bothers me when people call the protagonists of a story “good” and the antagonists “evil.” In the past few years, “evil” has been somewhat idealized, for lack of a better term. In today’s world, “evil” is “cool” and “good” is not. In truth, it doesn’t matter to me at all that people like antagonists, just that they call antagonists “evil” when they are not. Antagonists are most often people who want to achieve their goals and their dreams, just like protagonists. They truly believe that what they are doing is right.
Perhaps that’s just my way of looking at it. But I really think that there is no difference between “good” and “evil” and that there is one between “good” and “protagonist” and “evil” and “antagonist”.
it is not a matter of what is the difference between good and evil…
its simple, if you understand that ‘good’ and ‘evil’ dont exist in the sense of the word that is implied.
and the sense that it is implied is that ‘evil’ is a pure thing existing somewhere in this universe, and that ‘good’ is also a pure thing existing somewhere in the universe.
good and evil are however terms, that we humans made. for them to exist purely there would have to be God that has a perspective of our universe and can judge human action it under its own morality.
this to me seems highly unlikely.
*as for morality, in human terms, there are definitions to these words, and they can be applied morally.
if one assumes human morality is on the basis of these terms we made, good and evil, then the difference between good and evil is obvious.*
however in ‘reality’ the difference between good and evil is simply a difference of human action i suppose. but who is to define human action as good or evil? humans?
from an ‘outer perspective’ something else could define human action as good or evil, but i dont believe that there is something else out there defining and judging human action…
there is no difference between good or evil.
I suppose what you are saying does make sense, to a degree.
However, I do not see the “obvious” difference between good and evil, and the entire reason I asked was because the difference is not obvious to me, so I am at loss to see what it is you mean.
Your frustration with these terms and trying to define them, hinges on your methodology or the wider framework in which you veiw them. These terms in their dichotomized form assumes a religious view of the world, probably Christian for the purposes of this thread. Trying to discuss them in light of a secular world view is pointless and borderline straw man.
Evil is non-being, good is pure being. Evil is deficiency or to be at a distance from god, ect.
The legacy of what is associated with each of them is a purely Christian legacy(in our culture), and as such trying to rationalize the concepts from their associations(which is what you appear to be attempting), without the underlying assumptions, is an exercise in futility.
In my personal opinion i believe that in life good and evil do not exist as opposing forces, but rather classifications or “folders” that organize chaos. Order and Chaos are the two feuding forces in this world, and evil and good are just what takes the chaos away. there are several points of view that validate this.
Religious (Monotheistic): Because soul matter when brought to this planet has no classification, it must be influenced by either a good or evil side to bring out what side it leans to, thus whence the soul passes on, it will either be granted entrance to heaven or hell, folders in a “file cabinet” which bring order to the earth or “an orginized desk piled up with papers.”
Social: If humans lived in a world with no such classifications, one would not be able to judge any action for himself…hence whether he should or should nto do it, and if he should or should not do it in the future, the world would be in chaos and humans would not be able to decide on any action at all, thus we have the polar opposites that constitute which direction we should take.
of course if you want to take the “yes there really is good and evil” route, then of course only the mind of the individual can decide whether something is or is not evil. If something you do has negative consequesnces in your mind, it is evil, while visa versa.
The catch is that if one person thinks killing is evil because of the action of stealing ones life, while one prson thinks killing is good because he enjoys it or possibly believes that this will bring salvation to something…etc…this ripps the whole order idea apart.
In conclusion…good and evil is just a facade used by man to keep us from giving into our natural and human nature which we left behind as apes, known as chaos.
well, in my post i concluded that in reality there is no difference between the terms that have been put on pedastols: GOOD and EVIL.
in the human idea of the word, if you were to ask somebody on the street, they would say…well someone who is good gives money to the poor and is helpful and is nice and unselfish, ect…and they would say someone who is evil kills people and is greedy and selfish, ect…
but this is merely how the words are defined by humans, good and evil as it is used in our language. this however is ultimitely meaningless, considering everything i have considered, there is no difference between anything in this universe it is all the same, even though it looks different. all actions, things and words fall into the same catagory, they ‘exist’.
Good and evil have existed for far longer than man has walked the earth. The concepts of good and evil exist at the instinctual concious level of all life forms. Where is a good watering hole, what is not good to eat etc. It is only man who has placed labels of good and evil upon these various actions. So I would say that to us good and evil exist purely as conceptual thought.
how about good and bad? same thing? i’d sat that yah good/bad is a matter of preferance. the idea of Good/Evil is a religious connotation, you imply that any action can be judged as moral or not. who’s to judge(as has been said)
The root of religion is in the core belief every human has(pain death bad)(pleasure life good) people realized that some people just do fucked up things(product of free’ish will)i say free’ish because their are limitations on everything.(physics/biology/economics/government)the last 2 only apply to some of us, the others are prosecuted when caught. So afterward we realized that to ahve a civilized society we need laws. religion is the root of allot of our core beliefs, “do onto others as you’d have them do to you”. being one of the first set of recorded moral codes(the bible/commandments) is the root of alot of peoples moral codes/beliefs. what concerns me is not how i came about believing in GOD but “when” i came about believing. i was young and impreshionable(3-5)i’m not sure exactly. Even in the face of the uncertainty of my capacity for such a inquiry at that age, i’d say i was as right then as i could ever hope to be in the future. this is not pessimistic because ignorace is bliss if you know with certainty that the answer you’re looking for is impossible to justify.
For a while I was calling semitic-fundamentalist-religious-people “Jews”, but that didn’t bode well.
I will now give the simple & real explanation of good and evil, or more accurately, love and evil:
“Love” is directly relative to the widest scopes of the needs of the species.
“Evil” is any force or event that stops the species from either getting what it loves, or “evil” will destroy what the species “loves”.
Love & evil – are two scales of the natural instinct of the species.
In Utilitarianism, “good” would refer to a category of actions that result in close to optimal happiness. “Bad” would be the strict opposite of good - actions that resulted in close to minimal happiness. “Evil” is presumably what motivates humans to engage in “bad” actions.
what motivates someone to kill/committ immoreal acts the 1st time is a curiosity, after that its a judgement call. Everyone killed an ant before moving on to bigger and"better" things. Evil is the quality we attribute to bad actions, its not a motivating factor. i’m not gonna run into some evil and become overwhelmed with the desire to kill, i might run into your stereotypical evil person though.
A lot of issues in morality come down to the relationship between the individual and the group. What’s good for the individual may be bad for the group, and what’s good for the group may be bad for the individual. Perhaps that Big Question of morality, what’s Good and Evil, can be tackled from that perspective too.
Let’s define “good” (small g, as opposed to “bad”) as something that allows an individual or a group to thrive, evolve, survive, reach its potential, etc - kind of a creative force. “Bad” is what makes an individual or a group regress, devolve, die, etc - a destructive force.
When something is good both for the individual and the group, it is undoubtedly Good, and when something is bad both for the individual and the group, it is undoubtedly Evil. But the more interesting cases are, of course, where the individual and the group seem to be at odds. For example, abortion: “good” for the pro-choice woman who wants to pursue something besides motherhood, “bad” for society considering the foetus has the potential to become a contributing member. Or capital punishment: ultimate “bad” for the sentenced murderer, “good” for the group who wants justice or no more potential victims. In such cases it is indeed a fine line between Good and Evil. But I’m no relativist, and so would call these qualities real and define them like this. Good is what is good for the individual or the group without too much expense for the other. Evil is when there is too much expense.
good is what you like bad is what you don’t. in a social/societal sense, good is
anything which does not infringe on commonly accepted freedoms we(as people) have. bad is something which does infringe on commonly accepted freedoms. I have the right(living in canada) to live, work,vote and do whatever i decide fit as long as i stay within the laws set out by my government/courts and economics.
beyond that i think the government does a good job of protecting the general public. smart people make our laws(but that doesn’t mean i can’t be critical of them) and every 4 or so years i get to help decide the future direction of the country. although the differences between the parties are mostly trivial.
that depends on whether or not i’m experianced in the field he’s discussing. a knowledgeable person can spot a liar in a heartbeat and ignorant person may have more trouble.
i believe that in life good and evil do not exist as opposing forces, but rather classifications or “folders” that organize chaos. Order and Chaos are the two feuding forces in this world, and evil and good are just what takes the chaos away. there are several points of view that validate this.
