Evil and God

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Bahman

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We know well that Evil and Good are subjectively exist because we experience them. We know well that they are however opposite of each other either. Can we define Evil as a state confusion and suffering whereas Good as a state transparency and pleasure?

What do you think and what is your definition?
 
I made a mistake in the title. It should be “Evil and Good”.
 
They are not opposites. They are not equals. Evil is a lack of good. It is a void. Please repeat this until you internalize it.
 
po18guy said:
They are not opposites. They are not equals. Evil is a lack of good. It is a void. Please repeat this until you internalize it.
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I don’t think that a lack of good is necessarily evil. Evil is something which is characterized by suffering; disaster, wickedness or is something morally wrong. It is much more than a simple lack of goodness. A scientific hypothesis such as Lamarckism which is wrong is not good and therefore lacks goodness, but it is not evil.
 
When I spoke to my protestant friend about Stan being evil he said that gave him power but I explained to him that evil was there because there was no good. I showed him a glass of water and then emptied the water saying the glass didn’t become strong it just lacked the water, the same with Satan.

It would be better if I learned to explain things better.

😊
 
po18guy said:
They are not opposites. They are not equals. Evil is a lack of good. It is a void. Please repeat this until you internalize it.
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That is not correct. We have perfect good, less than perfect good is good, and less than perfect good is less good, etc. until you reach neutral and we reach evil. The same applies to evil.
 
Nelka said:
When I spoke to my protestant friend about Stan being evil he said that gave him power but I explained to him that evil was there because there was no good. I showed him a glass of water and then emptied the water saying the glass didn’t become strong it just lacked the water, the same with Satan.

It would be better if I learned to explain things better.

😊
Click to expand...
So you say that perfect evil does not exist, hence Satan is an delusion.
 
If you define evil and good from a subjective perspective, how can they be opposite of each other? A certain situation/action can bring pleasure for some people, suffering for others, transparency, confusion and many other nuances in between.

Think of a known group that is involved in criminal activity. They get a lot of money, and it brings pleasure for them to spend that money on exotic trips or anything else. Some of them might be confused and probably scared in the same time regarding their future. Now, these people live in a larger community- a few of those people were their victims, so obviously you will have suffering and confusion among many other feelings. You might find that a few persons who were very troubled about their own future, now are seeing the future in “brighter” colors as they believe they’ve found an opportunity for themselves- hopefully join said group.

Seems like on a subjective level, the actions of some people can bring a very mixed bag
of emotions, not only for themselves but others as well. So a dichotomy like good-evil seems pretty simplistic.
 
Nyx said:
If you define evil and good from a subjective perspective, how can they be opposite of each other?
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I don’t understand what could be a problem with that? We experience things and there are universal concepts attached to them like evil and good.
Nyx said:
A certain situation/action can bring pleasure for some people, suffering for others, transparency, confusion and many other nuances in between.
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That is true. A specific act could bring pleasure for some and suffering for another. That is why evil and good are subjective and this make a certain experience personal.
Nyx said:
Think of a known group that is involved in criminal activity. They get a lot of money, and it brings pleasure for them to spend that money on exotic trips or anything else. Some of them might be confused and probably scared in the same time regarding their future. Now, these people live in a larger community- a few of those people were their victims, so obviously you will have suffering and confusion among many other feelings. You might find that a few persons who were very troubled about their own future, now are seeing the future in “brighter” colors as they believe they’ve found an opportunity for themselves- hopefully join said group.

Seems like on a subjective level, the actions of some people can bring a very mixed bag of emotions, not only for themselves but others as well. So a dichotomy like good-evil seems pretty simplistic.
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That is true that our experiences can bring a set of mixed emotions, good and evil. We however are able to differentiate between good and evil.
 
Bahman said:
I don’t understand what could be a problem with that? We experience things and there are universal concepts attached to them like evil and good.
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Because for the vast majority of people, most of our experiences are somewhere between “good” and “bad”. Closer to one point or another, more of a continuum than a dichotomy. Obviously, because these are subjective experiences, we don’t have a “standard” for them- to afford an one room apartment in London might be something great for a person, and pretty terrible for another, and you cannot speak of a “perfect good or evil” as having even an abstract meaning- everyone will have a different opinion on what “perfect good and evil” is (even if most people are going to agree on certain “themes”)
 
Nyx said:
Because for the vast majority of people, most of our experiences are somewhere between “good” and “bad”. Closer to one point or another, more of a continuum than a dichotomy. Obviously, because these are subjective experiences, we don’t have a “standard” for them- to afford an one room apartment in London might be something great for a person, and pretty terrible for another, and you cannot speak of a “perfect good or evil” as having even an abstract meaning- everyone will have a different opinion on what “perfect good and evil” is (even if most people are going to agree on certain “themes”)
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First bad is not equal to evil. The definition Evil and Good are universal. We however could have different taste.
 
Yes, it is not, as evil implies a moral judgement (as does good). Still, if you define evil as a state of confusion and suffering the moral judgement might not exist- if I am suffering from a natural disaster no one is to blame for this, you cannot say the natural disaster is evil. The situation is as it is. The fact that someone is born in a rich family and a developed area while someone is born in a poor family and a poor area isn’t good or evil (if by good here you include a moral judgement).

I would say that it is more than personal taste and the definition of good and evil depends more on your religion or lack of it. Christianity, Islam, Zoroastrianism, etc pretty much define it as acting either according to their moral laws or against them. Others define good as anything that helps human beings reach their full potential, and evil as something that stops them from doing this. Obviously certain ideas exist in all these definitions (they all agree murdering an innocent person is wrong, they all think friendship is good) but there are differences (apostasy is perceived as evil in religious ideas, but not so according to the more humanist definitions, sexual relationships would be another huge differences).

In the end, good and evil are abstract concepts which yes, came to represent two opposites. But in everyday life, I think that it is more of a continuum than anything else…that is if you believe in the concept of good and evil.
 
Nyx said:
Yes, it is not, as evil implies a moral judgement (as does good). Still, if you define evil as a state of confusion and suffering the moral judgement might not exist- if I am suffering from a natural disaster no one is to blame for this, you cannot say the natural disaster is evil.
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You don’t need moral judgment for Evil giving the definition. Those are our wrong actions which need moral judgment.
Nyx said:
The situation is as it is. The fact that someone is born in a rich family and a developed area while someone is born in a poor family and a poor area isn’t good or evil (if by good here you include a moral judgement).
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We are given initial fate. That is the failure our system that we do not distribute wealth properly. That is not Evil instead it is wrong.
Nyx said:
I would say that it is more than personal taste and the definition of good and evil depends more on your religion or lack of it. Christianity, Islam, Zoroastrianism, etc pretty much define it as acting either according to their moral laws or against them.
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They were wrong. They confused between a Evil and wrong action. That is the wrong action which is against moral law.
Nyx said:
Others define good as anything that helps human beings reach their full potential, and evil as something that stops them from doing this.
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That is the wrong action which disrupt us from become good to the full potential. The same rule applies to Evil.
Nyx said:
Obviously certain ideas exist in all these definitions (they all agree murdering an innocent person is wrong, they all think friendship is good) but there are differences (apostasy is perceived as evil in religious ideas, but not so according to the more humanist definitions, sexual relationships would be another huge differences).
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Killing is wrong unless it is justified rationally. Friendship is good.
 
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