Why is there Evil? Atheist why has Evolution not eliminated it? (page 2)

cantleave

Societal behaviours have expanded to an international scale because of our ability to reason and extrapolate from the micro to the macro.

Pure altruism is a concept that almost certainly does not exist. People help other people, for a whole variety of reasons. People do good to be liked and praised by others. Even if no one else is aware of the good deeds of another, the person doing the good deeds is aware of their actions. Feeling good about your own actions is a powerful motivator to act in the interest of others.

Also AA, you keep asking why evolution has or has not done particular things. You phrase your questions as if evolution was an entity in its own right with a goal or purpose in mind for the natural world. You are confusing evolution with a deity. And this is entirely incorrect.

As others have pointed out, evolution is a process. It is the means by which organisms change through time to match their environment. There is no endpoint or fixed state that evolution is busily working towards. It is a continuous process and every generation of any particular species is slighlty different to the previous generation.

You can't blame evolution for the way life has turned out. That's akin to blaming the sun because you got sunburnt. It doesn't make logical sense to do so.

Julia Orwell

People who do bad things ie evil to others may be considered the 'fittest' and by vanquishing the good or meek, will have a better opportunity to pass on their genetic material. If being good or kind or altruistic gives you a better chance of survival to pass on their genes, then the human race, according to the natural selection model of evolution,should become more kind and compassionate. But if those who trample the rights of others and kill others and oppress others have a better chance of competing in the genes race and thereby vanquish less assertive competition, then under that same model the human race should become more cruel.

But it actually seems to be becoming more liberal and civilised, ie think of women's rights, civil rights, caring for disabled and disadvantaged, increased protection of children, animal welfare- things that are considered the marks of an advanced society, then our civilisation has only had those things in the last couple of hundred years.

ctrwtf

Evolution is a process. Obviously we are a work in progress. I agree that violence or evil may not be affected by the evolutionary process. Having said that, it is remarkable that we are far less violent than we were even 200 years ago. While some may decry political correctness, it has contributed to a more genteel life.

cantleave

People who do bad things ie evil to others may be considered the 'fittest' and by vanquishing the good or meek

You are misunderstanding the term survival of the fittest. This term refers t6o the ability to exploit the opportunities available within an environment. It is possible to have 2 species living harmoniously within the same environment one may be a heavily armoured carnivore, the other a soft bodied herbivore. Which is the fittest? Both are equally as "fit" as each other if they are successful at surving the environmental conditions they face.

cofty

if we were as selfish as Dr. Dawkins said we are

He doesn't say we are.

The Selfish Gene is a metaphor much misunderstood by people who have only read the book title.

cantleave

Genes do not think or conspire so the term "Selfish" is metaphoric.

*edit* Cofty beat me to it!

Tiktaalik

'Survival of the fittest' would have to be one of the most abused terms in the English language. People use it incorrectly almost all of the time.

In pure evolutionary theory, fitness is used as a measure of the likelihood of any individual passing on its genes to the next generation. Individuals that exhibit greater fitness have a greater chance of passing on their genetic material to subsequent generations.

It is not a measure of any particular trait - aggression, altruism, physical fitness, or any other thing you care to name. Fitness exists at the genetic level and it relates to how well adapted an organism is to its environment.

cofty

Love your username Tiktaalik. You should start a thread to discuss it. It is the best fossil ever!

cantleave

You should start a thread to discuss it. It is the best fossil ever!

A good example to add to the common ancestry thread too!

Why is there Evil? Atheist why has Evolution not eliminated it?

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