Does evil exist?

[SFG75]

I can't find the quote right now, but in Alfred Adler's book Human Understanding, he stated that we should not make moral judgments of people. Rather, we need to understand their past, the events that have shaped their lives, as well as bio/social factors. Juding evil* only separates people and keeps us form legitimately looking at social problems.

What do you think?

 

[mmyap]

I'll preface this by saying I'm not the most intellectual person in the world but I think evil does exist. Take a Charles Manson or a Jeffrey Dahmer.

I concede to the arguement that mental illness tipped the scales for those two examples. We can always analize their lives and look into their history but many people share much the same experience and didn't become psychopaths. There are lots of crazy people who may live outside societal norms and they may well be reactive and prone to violence when they feel threatened but the ability to murder as those individuals did is, for lack of a better word....special. IMHO, there existed a propensity for evil within those two.

 

[Disenthral]

I'm generally misanthropic, soooo I consider the human race for the most part evil... As I think we can all agree. So evil exists.

 

[SFG75]

I found it!, finally.

. . . let us never allow ourselves to make any moral judgments, judgments concernig the moral worth of a human being!

Perhaps evil is what we would call "sociopathic." At the same time, it can take "soft" forms such as through neglect or "small" acts of cruelty. If we broaden the definition to that, then all of humanity is evil and therefore, the idea of it is rather relative. I have worked with some sociopathic individuals and they all shared the same traits that I've read about from other sources-they tend to be narcissistic, think they do things better than what they do, justify hurtful/destructive behavior, incapable of expressing remorse, and are devious. This also describes politicians I know, so do forgive me.

 

[Comeflyaway]

I worked in a correctional facility once, working one-on-one and in groups with the kind of people that are often considered "evil" -- those arrested for assault & battery, stealing, dealing drugs, etc. I have to say that being in that situation, talking with them, interacting with them, opened my eyes to the lives that they have been living. I absolutely don't condone what they did, but it's certainly a lot easier to understand their actions when you consider the broken home lives that many have lived from a very, very young age. It's absolutely 100% NOT ok to beat your girlfriend, but I think it's more productive to look at the circumstances that lead to it than just to classify someone as "evil" and hopeless. There's more hope for some kind of understanding and rehabilitation that way. Granted, I'm not talking about people like Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Bin Laden, etc... just your run-of-the-mill bad guys...

 

[Gilgamesh]

With all people being excused/labeled as 'socially dysfunctional', 'ADHD', 'abused as a child', or "_____ challenged', I guess we don't need the word 'evil' anymore? We have explaination for all. I'm sure if someone delve into the life of Hitler, someone can creat a new terminology that would replace 'evil'. Maybe someone will prescribe a sedative of some sort and help these 'evil' ones out.

 

[beer good]

^^ That's the plot of A Clockwork Orange, isn't it?

I see no trouble in saying that people can commit evil acts. I see no reason to believe that evil exists as a separate entity, or that people can be inherently evil.

 

[Isabell]

Yes, Evil does exist and never dies. My father is one of them

 

[jaybe]

We are all evil.

I can't just think of any other species which I'd call evil though. Why do we see is ourselves as superior?

 

[Disenthral]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kndX3tVxCt8:cool:

 

[Fantasy Moon]

I believe that we like to divide people up into "good" and "evil" categories. Things just aren't as simple as this, I believe. So we consider taking a life to be an evil act, for example? What about the man who shoots and kills an intruder breaking into his home? Or a soldier on the battlefield? We don't generally consider these type of people to be "evil" individuals when they kill others. As with so many other things, it all depends upon one's point of view.