What is Evil and what is Good?

[_huckelberry]

The word "evil" has some heavy religious connotations that imply a theology that I don't believe in. I know that "evil" can mean a lot of things. I use it myself in a jocular way. I've called the last cup of coffee from a three hour old pot evil. Just my tongue-in-cheek way of saying "very bad". The funniest I've heard was a line from "Black Adder" where Black Adder calls his servant's (Baldrick's) breath "straight from Satan's bottom".

In philosophical or religious conversations, I don't use it. I don't believe in a god, demi-god or fallen angel that is the lord of evil.

Quasimodo,
Thanks for the reply, "an evil cup of coffee" no mistaking the meaning there. I get a sense you associate the word evil with a belief in a magical influence some satan is believed to have. (Like Satan farts ) I sympathize with wanting to keep thinking about good and bad focused on real human actions. I wonder if the idea of a list of absolutely good and absolutely evil actions has a bit of association with magical attatchment to God or Satan. That kind of thinking makes it seem overly important to know all the tricky distinctions. Is all coffee is good or evil not just the clearly bad cup?. A person might fear that being in error could drag them into the influence of the wrong sphere where its power could control them. I see only fear and confusion resulting from this sort of thing.

[_Quasimodo]

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?

Sorry Jersey,

I scrolled up after writing that last post and just saw this. Thanks so much for the kind words. Just sayin'...

Yeah, sociopath's are a hard call. I tend to think of them like forces of nature (tornadoes, etc.). They do very bad things, but where does one put the blame? It's easy to rail against a tornado that has destroyed your home or injured your family, but what value does that have?

I also think that good people do very bad things as a result of false perceptions or indoctrination. The soldier that commits some atrocity because of the stress that war has put him under (friends recently killed), the peer pressure of his troop (group think), indoctrination by the regime that he is fighting for "our enemies are all evil and godless, have no mercy".

You're quite right, it's a very long ball of yarn. Maybe it's best to not to even look for the end of it and just give up trying to find someone to blame.

[_Quasimodo]

Quasimodo,
Thanks for the reply, "an evil cup of coffee" no mistaking the meaning there. I get a sense you associate the word evil with a belief in a magical influence some satan is believed to have. (Like Satan farts ) I sympathize with wanting to keep thinking about good and bad focused on real human actions. I wonder if the idea of a list of absolutely good and absolutely evil actions has a bit of association with magical attatchment to God or Satan. That kind of thinking makes it seem overly important to know all the tricky distinctions. Is all coffee is good or evil not just the clearly bad cup?. A person might fear that being in error could drag them into the influence of the wrong sphere where its power could control them. I see only fear and confusion resulting from this sort of thing.

Thanks for the question, Huck (you can tell from my sig line that I'm a Twain fan).

Yeah, when discussing "loftier" subjects, I'm personally more comfortable staying away from words like "evil". Too easily confused by others who may have a very different understanding of the word than I do.

Fortunately, even though I have had many evil cups of coffee, none has dragged me over to the dark side (at least I don't think they have).

[_Quasimodo]

Personally, I find the term "evil" troublesome as well. That is the main reason I would like to know what it means. For me, it has kinda lost meaning. When someone refers to an evil person or choosing evil I have no idea what they mean by it.

It might be that I would have to ask the individual saying it what they mean. Sadly, I cannot ask Moroni what he meant in Moroni 7. I wonder what the prophet would say about it.

I have that trouble with the word "God", too. When someone asks if I believe in God, I don't really know what they're asking (sometimes they don't know what they are asking, either). I think everyone has their own vision or interpretation.

At times I have asked them to define what they mean by "God", but I've found that it isn't always the best thing to do.

These days I just say "I dunno".

[_Quasimodo]

I begin from this notion. Selfishness can exact bad on other people. But not all selfishness is bad. It's about proportionality.

If we're talking about the "badness" of a person (as opposed to just "things bad") I think it has to do with intent.

If someone thoughtlessly does something that effects others in a bad way I don't think that makes them a bad person. Just human. I'm guilty, too.

If a person does something malicious with the intent of harming others (physically or emotionally) then they might fall into the category of a bad person. It might be better to say "acting as a bad person". Most young children and many adolescents are capable of doing malicious things. Most grow beyond it later in life.

[_honorentheos]

Personally, I find the term "evil" troublesome as well. That is the main reason I would like to know what it means. For me, it has kinda lost meaning. When someone refers to an evil person or choosing evil I have no idea what they mean by it.

It might be that I would have to ask the individual saying it what they mean. Sadly, I cannot ask Moroni what he meant in Moroni 7. I wonder what the prophet would say about it.

I have that trouble with the word "God", too. When someone asks if I believe in God, I don't really know what they're asking (sometimes they don't know what they are asking, either). I think everyone has their own vision or interpretation.

At times I have asked them to define what they mean by "God", but I've found that it isn't always the best thing to do.

These days I just say "I dunno".

Lol! +1 I can relate to this.

[_ludwigm]

.

Thanks for the question, Huck (you can tell from my sig line that I'm a Twain fan).

I am one, too.

"Amicus Plato— amicus Aristoteles— magis amica veritas"
"Plato is my friend— Aristotle is my friend— but my greatest friend is truth."

Mark Twain wrote "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"

Errors are to test our ability to fix them.
I was radar technician for 20 years. Then teacher of radar maintenance for another 20.

My fault in knowing pink noise (thank You abman) proves that there are errors everywhere.

[_huckelberry]

huck can tell from my sig line that I'm a Twain fan).

Mark Twain wrote "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"

In regard to the vanity variation in spelling of my name, I am not actually a product of Mr Twains imagination. Perhaps I would be a tad smarter if I was. I like Twain and take some inspriation from him. I do not match up exactly. I have never boated or floated the Mississippi. In fact the only few times I have seen it was crossing on the interstate highway. I did not even have time to stop and throw out a fishing line.

[_Quasimodo]

Mark Twain wrote "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"

Errors are to test our ability to fix them.
I was radar technician for 20 years. Then teacher of radar maintenance for another 20.

My fault in knowing pink noise (thank You abman) proves that there are errors everywhere.

Wow, I usually double check may own spelling (I have dyslexic fingers), but I didn't think to check Hucks.

Can't get away with anything on this board. :)

[_Some Schmo]

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

Holy Christ, that struck my funny bone in a big way.