What is Evil?

[yoyo13rom]

The absence of any form of love

 

[Sonicron]

Essentially, "evil" boils down to this...

Spoiler: The face of evil. Peek at your own risk.

 

[nick n stuff]

corruption, murder of a family member, disfigured face. usually does it.

 

[JoJo]

Hate or simply lack of care...

 

[WINDOWCLEAN2]

Evil is something against the rights of ALL people, places and things.

Wrong is against a certain society's chosen rules/morals

 

[Bourne]

Evil is like love, we all know what it is, and words do not describe it. It is hard to see sometimes, it may disguise itself, and we may mistake something else for it, but when its in its purest form and staring us in the soul, we know what we're looking at.

 

[rekabdarb]

Evil is just a word, nothing more. If you want to get technical I'd say that evil is unbridled chaos. Anarchy. people who don't really care. People without purpose striving for nothing. Good and Evil, right and wrong. These mean nothing because each side is fighting for good, each side is fighting for right.

Evil is just a word, and does not exist as such. The definition will vary according to what you have been taught and what this has made you arrive at as an adult.

My personal definition of evil would be doing something bad to another person with the intent of making them suffer.

damn... somewhat ninja'd

Aren't "chaos" and "anarchy" also both words? For that matter, isn't "adult" just a word? I don't get why everyone always insists on saying something cannot be defined just because opinions can widely differ. We may not get everyone to agree, but that doesn't mean we should automatically skip straight to "it's relative, thus pointless."

I would define it as knowingly and actively working in opposition to the greater good. There are some caveats to this definition. If one ignores the greater good out of fear for his own life he may be merely a coward and not necessarily "evil". So I guess doing so without coercion? I don't know. It's a tough question and a little difficult to define.

EDIT: For example, what EA is attempting to do to the games industry (particularly the PC market.)

Fine i believe Evil is the pursuit to fight for a cause of nothing. (The cause is just to do it)

 

[Latinidiot]

My brain. You don't even wanna know what goes on in there.

are you implying we share one?


OT: any force that opposes the main character is usually considered evil.

 

[AlchemicalGod]

Either causing harm to anything without a need too (survival, protection). Or in my opinoin at least, ignoring such acts for any reason.

 

[airEx]

How can we describe the nazis "final solution" with one word?
Madness.

And there you have my answer.

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

My brain. You don't even wanna know what goes on in there.

are you implying we share one?


OT: any force that opposes the main character is usually considered evil.

We just might good sir.

 

[notsosavagemessiah]

I find that one truly cannot definitively point out what is truly evil. The reason for this is because different societies structure their moral systems around different politics, religion, and traditions. Conflicts arise when these clash. It is in these clashes that people invent words like, "good" or "evil" to try and justify their belief in the destruction in the other socities ways of life. Bear in mind that on both sides, the other side is evil, while they are inherently the "good guys". So I ask you, how can both sides be good, and both be evil? The answer then, becomes obvious, nobody is either. All societies are dedicated to the preservation of themselves and their ways of life.

 

[tehweave]

To go off of the Dungeons and Dragons guide, evil is basically someone who is 100% selfish. They care only about themselves and want to improve everything about them without caring for anyone else.

A 100% good person only cares about others, or the general masses. Their best interests come second to other peoples, and will go out of their way to help someone else.

Really, I think the best kind of person is a neutral person. They aren't a "don't care" kind of person, really they have a nice mix between caring for others, but looking out for themselves as well.

 

[Caligulove]

I'd like to think that all people that are classified as 'evil' have at least some kind of reason for doing the things that they do- and aren't just "EVIL"
To me, I have always thought that evil was just a hyperbole for the actions of people that you don't agree with or that have a radically different agenda than you- exaggerated for the purposes of making it easier to combat them in some form.

I mean, take the German Army. I'm not talking about the SS and all that from WWII. But the regular, drafted German Army- I've met a lot of Old vets from that war who say they've lost countless hours of sleep wondering if the man they killed the other day was just some ordinary guy like him, but just happened to live in Germany, wondering if he and that german soldier could have been best friends...

Even the SS I would say are twisted to almost inhuman levels of cruelty against their fellow man. But Evil almost implies that they are suddenly doing things for the sake of being evil and everything in the negative. And to retain what I think about ourselves as a species and to have faith in what we are capable of, both good and bad- I need to believe that people have at least some reason for doing things- 'evil' is just a write-off of what that might have been.

 

[Quiet Stranger]

I don't believe in good or evil, just things that happen, or people that make things happen, good or evil are just view points (opinions) one might think 9/11 is good, one might think its bad

 

[Akalistos]

In games, movies, books, what have you, there is always some malevolent force that's the "bad guy" and is therefore dubbed "evil". I would ask, though, what is it that makes one evil? Is it deeds, thoughts, desires, a combination? And which deeds, thoughts, and desires are evil? Why? What does evil essentially boil down to?

When you get right down to it, it's quite a bit more complex that it seems at first glance.

My answer to the question would be that evil, at its very heart is selfishness. When you consistently put yourself before others, that begets greed, lust, and even anger both at others who see themselves above you, and at yourself.

So what do you believe is the simplest form of evil?

There no real form to evil and limiting it to Selfish behavior is foolish at best. You can't really describe evil like you can't describe light so i guess you want our definition of evil base on experience.

I would say it consciously causing pain, either physical or moral, without any gain or need fulfilled.

I read that Serial Killers don't need killing but do it anyways for a small rush like a drug addict with a "buzz". It not necessary, and in fact give them nothing to kill little Suzie down the street. But they love doing it. That EVIL and what scare me the most about it is the fact that the guy you would think is one will most likely never be. According to Police officers, serial killers are often love and respected member of society, with many having a family and children. It a sick world we live in.....

 

[JoeCool385]

Evil is the privation of good. Duh.

http://newadvent.org/summa/1048.htm

Oh, you mean practically speaking, what is evil? An evil action is one that is contrary to the good. An evil person is one who routinely acts contrary to his own good or that of others.

And since evil is a privation of good, you can't understand it without knowing good.

http://newadvent.org/summa/1005.htm

I suppose the best summary of goodness would be that a thing is more or less good if it more or less achieves the perfection of its nature.

So in that context, an evil person is one who acts contrary to what perfects his nature.