Origin of "Good and Evil" - OG Myth-Weavers

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Origin of "Good and Evil"

 
Origin of "Good and Evil"

Just another of the commonly recurring ideas from before

Where does evil come from originally? And, along the same lines, why do we have "Good" in the world, Morals and such.

The way I see it, Humans are social creatures. Over time, mother nature burned said concept into our skulls so we wouldn't get plastered by Woolly Mammoths or somesuch. The things that would destabilize our society greatly are thus, inherently 'wrong'.

Ah, but does good and evil really exist?

"There is no such thing as pure good or evil. Least of all in people. My cat eats mice. Does that make him bad? I think not, but I would bet the mice have a different opinion." -Wizard's First Rule

Basically, good and evil is a matter of opinion really. I think Bob is evil because he seeks to kill me, but Bob thinks he is good because by killing me he thinks he is making the world a better place. Therefore, in his mind, he is good. In my mind, he is evil for wanting to kill me and I am the good guy.
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But surely everything can't be relative? I mean, let's do some speculation, we've got different societies. Our society exist as it is, but this other society eat babies on a regular basis. They do it all the time, and no one complains about it. But they only eat "flawed" babies. Is this good? I mean, it's fine for them, it's what they do. So, relatively, it's good.
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Sure, for them that might be fine. Take Frank Herbet's Dune. The fremen would drain the fluids from a dead body and drink them, because water is precious, and the dead don't need it. To us, such a thing would be evil. To them, wasting that much water might be evil, or at least very, very wrong.

I think it was the gauls, they used to throw babies onto the spears of enemy warriors. Why? Well, for starters, it would probably unnerve the soldiers. Nothing freaks you out more than being splattered with baby juice. And really, if the adults were defeated, what hope did the babies have?

In your example, the eating of "flawed" babies, yeah, I can see that. By eliminating the weak or flawed, those abnormalities are not passed on. I mean, modern Western society practices reverse Darwinism - we keep the sick, the disabled and the just plain stupid around, and they often have kids. The human gene pool isn't being constantly refined, it's being kept polluted with morons and people born with a third arm sticking out of their foreheads.

In your example, a baby born with eleven fingers never has children. Eventually, that gene would likely be lost. The same applies to say... a kid born with no legs. Now, that kids gonna go through hell, if he lives. This way, he doesn't live. He doesn't have children. A theoretically infinite number of people don't have to endure a life of torment and ridicule, and the society as a whole is better off for it - it doesn't have to take care of individuals who cannot contribute in the same way.

Is cannibalism evil? Of course it is, you might say. Why? I mean, if it's done out of respect and all, why is it so evil? Some animals do it, and we all know that animals are solidly true neutral .

Okay, well then, by your logic, Hitler was good? I mean, if morales are relative, then no matter what is done, if you believe it is okay, then it's fine? If i decide that it's best for the world to clean up the trash of the world by killing people, it's not wrong?

EDIT: And i'm sorry for the Godwin, it was just the first thought that came to my mind.

I see good an evil effectively compare a persons willingness to allow others to be happy. A "Good" person is someone who tries to be happy while allowing others around him/her to be happy. An Evil person will take advantage of other causing them unhappiness to fuel the persons happiness.

Quote:
Okay, well then, by your logic, Hitler was good?
In his mind, yeah. Of course, Hitler was more than a little nutso, so...

What I'm saying is, there is no universal "good and evil". There is opinions, perspectives, beliefs, and all sorts of things that define a person's moral code, but there is no universal list of good and bad.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dark_Azrael
A "Good" person is someone who tries to be happy while allowing others around him/her to be happy. An Evil person will take advantage of other causing them unhappiness to fuel the persons happiness.
No offense, but that's very, very simplistic.

By that, if a sadist sees three guys beating up an old lady, gets in there and beats the bajeezus out of them, and enjoys it, he is evil. He fueled his own happiness by denying other people (The guys) their happiness. By your logic, what he should have done is just left them alone, because then he's allowing others around to him to be happy - the three guys. The old lady probably isn't, but it's a case of 3 vs. 1. What's going to have more of an effect? And the guys probably won't be happy in jail, will they? And the old lady in the hospital's Intensive Care ward? No, by walking past and letting the old bat get bashed to death, he is a good person.

I'd say evil is the harming of another human, or an animal, whether emotionally or physically, as well as mentally, with the intention of gain or enjoyment. Killing those babies is probably the way those people grew up and thus didn't see it as evil, while an evil person would deliberately kill a child for gain or pleasure.

I'd say evil is, and was always, from the time since Adam and Eve ate of the cursed fruit, part of humans. There is no clear definition, but it seems to be teh intentional harm of your neighbor for personal gain. It's like lying and being mistaken, if you think 2+2=3 and tell someone else so, you aren't lying, you're mistaken. If you do it intentionally you are decieving. It works the same way with evil, I do believe. Evil, in the bible at least, is that which goes against God's word.

As for why we have good in the world I do believe we need to have a basic definition of good.

Good, being the opposite of evil, is the intentional aiding of a fellow person for other reasons. Good is done without expecting a reward or else it would be considered mutual.

Why are some people good and seek to aid their neighbor? From a religious stnadpoint probably because Christ has summed the 10 commandments, and all of God's other commands into two. Honor God and love him with all you heart,mind, and soul. Truth towards thyself followed by truth towards God.

Second loving thy neighbor as thyself; self explanatory.

Non-religiously, I'm not quite sure. Firstly it most likely has to do with the environment they were raised in and what they were taught.Secondly, a good person might seek to do good out of want of a fufilling life. Third, people might be a crusading do-gooder and do good in hopes other will join them.
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But ticattack, by your logic, that same situation, if the sadist stops them, he probably thinks he is right, and the womaan thinks he is right, but the men think he is wrong...so what is the resolution? Who is in the right in this situation? Or is everyone in the right?




 

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