Comments on: How to Approach “Evil” http://5x54.learnerblogs.org/2006/09/13/how-to-approach-evil/ By the way, there has never been a Dark Universe Version 1.0.... Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:35:36 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=wordpress-mu-1.2.5 By: Alex http://5x54.learnerblogs.org/2006/09/13/how-to-approach-evil/#comment-4 Alex Thu, 14 Sep 2006 20:50:11 +0000 http://5x54.learnerblogs.org/2006/09/13/how-to-approach-evil/#comment-4 I agree. The concept of evil is one of importance, for some reasons I described. Just because there is no word for evil does not mean it doesn't exist, or that people can't see it. The problem is that when they see things that are evil, they feel various emotions instead of being able to express it in words, which keeps people from understanding any kind of underlying cause. If instead of calling something evil people experienced powerful feelings of hatred and fear, they could not possibly want to compromise or understand. The same will happen if evil is not defined clearly enough, because it will then just be used as a word to describe those people or things a person hates and fears. The impact of this can be described by a scenario involving little innocent children: Polly is having fun with her jump-rope in a park. Suddenly, Joe comes along and pushes her to the ground, taking the jump-rope and walking away to play with it himself. Now, keep in mind that children, at least for the most part, do not even have a vague definition of evil. The only time evil is used in their lives is in TV shows where good guys beat bad guys who are "evil". Therefore, the reaction of this child would be to feel sad about losing the jump-rope, then angry at Joe. One way or another, she'd try to get the rope back. She may even want to make Joe feel bad or even hurt hurt him. This is the typical reaction from someone with no definition for evil. However, lets say Polly had a clear defintion of evil. She would probably try to classify the action taken by Joe to be evil. In the process, the child definition of evil will come up: to do something bad just to be mean. This will probably lead to Polly thinking about WHY Joe took her jump-rope. It will be up to her to realize that while everyone else had friends to play with all the time, Joe had nobody and usually just sat on a bench while everyone else had fun. He probably wanted to play too, and therefore took something to play with from one of the happy children he learned to envy. The result of this realization is much more pleasant than the first result. This is why evil must never be defined as something a person hates. That definition is as vague as a definition can get. Once evil has a definition, people will try to define things they don't like as evil, which will almost always lead them to find that the thing was not truly evil after all, and also to begin to understand it. Such a logical state of mind is much better than the blind emotions many people feel right now. I defined evil as chaos because I wanted for there to be a common definition for the word. In addition, to many people evil is a negative act that lacks reason, usually an extreme act. Therefore, chaos fits the definition people unconsciously assign to the word evil. However, the fact that most things, especially the things we most consider evil, actually have reasons behind them, helps people understand the world from the perspective of the thing they had called evil. Therefore, surprisingly, a defined evil is actually good for society, as it weakens hatred and encourages compromise. I'm sorry if I rambled...it's just that I wanted to get this darn point across once and for all. I agree. The concept of evil is one of importance, for some reasons I described. Just because there is no word for evil does not mean it doesn’t exist, or that people can’t see it. The problem is that when they see things that are evil, they feel various emotions instead of being able to express it in words, which keeps people from understanding any kind of underlying cause. If instead of calling something evil people experienced powerful feelings of hatred and fear, they could not possibly want to compromise or understand. The same will happen if evil is not defined clearly enough, because it will then just be used as a word to describe those people or things a person hates and fears. The impact of this can be described by a scenario involving little innocent children:

Polly is having fun with her jump-rope in a park. Suddenly, Joe comes along and pushes her to the ground, taking the jump-rope and walking away to play with it himself.

Now, keep in mind that children, at least for the most part, do not even have a vague definition of evil. The only time evil is used in their lives is in TV shows where good guys beat bad guys who are “evil”. Therefore, the reaction of this child would be to feel sad about losing the jump-rope, then angry at Joe. One way or another, she’d try to get the rope back. She may even want to make Joe feel bad or even hurt hurt him. This is the typical reaction from someone with no definition for evil.

However, lets say Polly had a clear defintion of evil. She would probably try to classify the action taken by Joe to be evil. In the process, the child definition of evil will come up: to do something bad just to be mean. This will probably lead to Polly thinking about WHY Joe took her jump-rope. It will be up to her to realize that while everyone else had friends to play with all the time, Joe had nobody and usually just sat on a bench while everyone else had fun. He probably wanted to play too, and therefore took something to play with from one of the happy children he learned to envy. The result of this realization is much more pleasant than the first result.

This is why evil must never be defined as something a person hates. That definition is as vague as a definition can get. Once evil has a definition, people will try to define things they don’t like as evil, which will almost always lead them to find that the thing was not truly evil after all, and also to begin to understand it. Such a logical state of mind is much better than the blind emotions many people feel right now.

I defined evil as chaos because I wanted for there to be a common definition for the word. In addition, to many people evil is a negative act that lacks reason, usually an extreme act. Therefore, chaos fits the definition people unconsciously assign to the word evil. However, the fact that most things, especially the things we most consider evil, actually have reasons behind them, helps people understand the world from the perspective of the thing they had called evil. Therefore, surprisingly, a defined evil is actually good for society, as it weakens hatred and encourages compromise.

I’m sorry if I rambled…it’s just that I wanted to get this darn point across once and for all.

]]> By: Mr. W. http://5x54.learnerblogs.org/2006/09/13/how-to-approach-evil/#comment-3 Mr. W. Thu, 14 Sep 2006 20:17:58 +0000 http://5x54.learnerblogs.org/2006/09/13/how-to-approach-evil/#comment-3 Yes, true (about the political histories of the various nations/non-state actors with which we're in conflict), but this doesn't really get at what evil IS. Or maybe there isn't a definition to which we can attach ourselves? As has been said before, one person's evil is another person's justifiable cause. What's your take on Andrew Delbanco's opinion that without a concept of evil, our society misses out on some of its functionality? Yes, true (about the political histories of the various nations/non-state actors with which we’re in conflict), but this doesn’t really get at what evil IS. Or maybe there isn’t a definition to which we can attach ourselves? As has been said before, one person’s evil is another person’s justifiable cause.

What’s your take on Andrew Delbanco’s opinion that without a concept of evil, our society misses out on some of its functionality?

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