What is Evil and what is Good?

[_just me]

This has come up recently and I don't feel like there was an adequate answer.

What are evil deeds? I really would love an actual list of every evil act.
What are the attributes of, or what makes, an evil man?

What are good works?

I am mostly interested in what believers believe works of evil or evil people are. My belief is that what people think is evil is rooted in their current culture/religion, norms, customs and laws.

As we saw in another thread, Moroni 7 makes the claim that an "evil man" cannot do good works. I believe this is obviously false. People are not so one dimensional.

In another thread there is reference to people choosing evil over good. I am interested in what that means. What is evil?

This may sound like a silly question to some, but I am most sincere.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

Well, I think Evil is murdering every man, woman, child, and living thing on a planet because your feelings are hurt.

V/R
Dr. Cam

[_LDSToronto]

This has come up recently and I don't feel like there was an adequate answer.

What are evil deeds? I really would love an actual list of every evil act.
What are the attributes of, or what makes, an evil man?

1. Masturbation.

I can't think of any others.

H.

[_just me]

This has come up recently and I don't feel like there was an adequate answer.

What are evil deeds? I really would love an actual list of every evil act.
What are the attributes of, or what makes, an evil man?

1. Masturbation.

I can't think of any others.

H.

I did figure that would need to be on the list. So, basically everyone is evil.

[_Quasimodo]

For me some definition is required. Personally, I don't believe in evil (the evil you might define as the opposite of holy). Evil is often equated with "bad" (this is an error, I think). I do believe that there are bad things and actions in the world, even bad people.

There are many good things and good people, too. Vastly out weighing the bad. Just no holy or evil ones.

Bad actions would be those that are self serving and done without regard to the pain that may be caused to others. Sometimes these bad actions are done to specifically harm others (now we're getting into the field of bad people).

Good actions are usually altruistic. Done with the well being of others in mind. Done without concern if it might be of value to oneself (good people). A vast area lies between the two.

Bad people can become good (and often do). Good people can become bad (usually out of anger for their own mistreatment).

[_sock puppet]

Good and evil? Well, have you eaten the fruit of the tree yet so that you will immediately have the light of Christ and know? As a daughter of Adam and Eve, well, let's just say they did it for you.

I like what Quasi said about eschewing the term evil, and putting bad in its place. So, good and bad.

I begin from this notion. Selfishness can exact bad on other people. But not all selfishness is bad. It's about proportionality. Suppose that I am in my backyard (no pool) lighting the propane gas on the barbecuer and a flash flame engulfs and starts burning me. I run right into the neighbors back yard and jump in the pool to dowse out the fire on me. Was it selfish of me to use the neighbors property without permission, for my own personal needs? Sure it was. I wasn't thinking about them, I was thinking about me. But I don't think it was bad for me to jump in the pool under the circumstances, even if it interrupted or even 'ruined' their 17 year old daughter's pool party with her friends.

On the other hand, if my dogs were in my backyard barking incessantly while the 17 year old's party was taking place, and they asked me to quiet my dogs and I did not, definitely the bad kind of selfish.

It's all about the proportionality. If the damage or cost to others for me to pursue my needs is greater than incidental in relation to the magnitude of my needs, then I am being selfish in a bad way.

If Paul O is at home masturbating, I cannot fathom how that is bad, much less evil. (Oh, I can just hear the TBM masturbation ninnies thinking, but if Paul wasn't a wanker, he'd not have homosexual thoughts, his marriage would yet be intact and his kids being raised in a two parent family. Really? That wasn't what led to the marriage to dissolve, and if he hadn't been releasing built up sexual tension, it might have resulted eventually in a sexual assault on someone down at the city park.)

[Guest]

Would people from other religions instantly bring up the subject of masturbation on a thread about good and evil? Probably a question better suited for another thread.

Some people would define the mini skirt as a source of evil. If you like the mini skirt, beware! You might have developed an unhealthy tolerance for evil!

Those who would suggest there may be a moral question in miniskirts are branded as prudes or told that evil is in the eye of the beholder. And this attitude is not entirely uncommon in the Church. There are women, girls, and men who know the Church’s position on modesty of dress and yet have developed such a tolerance for the evil that they seem to have no qualms about it.

[_Jersey Girl]

Quasi,

I always benefit from reading your posts. Just sayin'

You wrote,

"Bad actions would be those that are self serving and done without regard to the pain that may be caused to others. Sometimes these bad actions are done to specifically harm others (now we're getting into the field of bad people)."

When things are done without regard to the pain that it may cause to others, I automatically think in terms of sociopathy. Sociopath's do not create themselves. I don't know if we can rightly call them "bad people" when they suffer from mental illness.

While their actions can be considered heinous, I don't quite know where the end is to that ball of yarn, do you?

[_mikwut]

Hello Just Me,

I believe these questions can raise many answers because of the obvious different background beliefs of those on the board. Obviously someone who believes that good is defined within a metaphysical framework of naturalism or materialism that persons definition will be inclined to think somewhat differently than someone who works within a canopy of transcendence such as a theist. A Mormon has even more difficulty because a Mormon straddles both of those frameworks, sometimes in frustrating ways.

I believe the good is defined as that which develops, supports or works toward our growth (spiritual growth within a theistic framework) toward true fulfillment. Love is defined as a consequence of defining the Good. Someone is acting loving who acts in accordance with a will towards another's spiritual growth toward the pre-understood good. Evil then is defined as that which with will and intention destroys, corrupts and intends against another's spiritual growth and development, even one's own. Evil isn't mere suffering, it includes an intention and a will. That is why the problem of suffering has been traditionally called the problem of evil because the problem is presented towards God's intention.

Apart from those definitions I believe our intuitions are strongly at work when we ask what is evil? Marilyn McCord Adams' essay "The Mirror of Evil" which I think can be found online rather easily is a very profound essay and has been influential on my thought regarding evil. We seem to simply see, perceive or recognize it. We might want to attach this to our reasoning faculties but that isn't fully correct. We construct our ethical theories on reason but part of that construction is by relying on our intuition to a large degree based on our experience. We do that from individual cases where we simply recognize evil. If we read or hear recounted Nazi experiments on children, the rape of an innocent child, the abuse of an elderly person, willful abuses of power, we clearly "see" evil and simply recognize and understand it as such.

We seemingly have a faculty that discerns evil, and likewise good. We can most clearly see this because the faculty can attenuate between degrees of evil and good. Marilyn McCord Adams gives the example of a "young Muslim mother in Bosnia who was repeatedly raped in front of her husband and father, with her baby screaming on the floor beside her. When her tormentors seemed finally tired of her, she begged permission to nurse the child. In response, one of the rapists swiftly decapitated the baby and threw the head in the mother's lap." This isn't "bad", or mere "wrongdoing" it immediately strikes us and our intuition as gross wickedness and evil, it is different in kind and in degree from bad acts that we encounter on a daily basis. The good is discerned from this faculty as well, we immediately perceive the depths and degrees of generosity, compassion and kindness from individual cases. We don't have to reason or think many of these examples over we immediately perceive the inherent wickedness and evil. We in fact raise our eyebrows to those that don't immediately perceive and recognize such dastardly examples of evil or such great examples of the good as defined as such.

my thoughts, mikwut

[_Jersey Girl]

mikwut,

Okay, I will try you with this.

Marilyn McCord Adams gives the example of a "young Muslim mother in Bosnia who was repeatedly raped in front of her husband and father, with her baby screaming on the floor beside her. When her tormentors seemed finally tired of her, she begged permission to nurse the child. In response, one of the rapists swiftly decapitated the baby and threw the head in the mother's lap." This isn't "bad", or mere "wrongdoing" it immediately strikes us and our intuition as gross wickedness and evil, it is different in kind and in degree from bad acts that we encounter on a daily basis. The good is discerned from this faculty as well, we immediately perceive the depths and degrees of generosity, compassion

What if those captors were psychotic? What responsibility do they hold?