(The following is what I've come to regard as the best explanation of evil culled from my reading of philosophy; especially Morimer J. Adler and Ayn Rand. Make up your own mind.)
DEFINING EVIL in a meaningful way.
If EVIL is merely opinion; then our attitude creates it and we ourselves are the authors of evil such as it exists for us. One man's evil is another mans Vegas vacation with his secretary in these relativistic terms.
Can we break free of this subjective mode and step back to examine whether something more scientific can be discovered? How might we do that? Where would it lead us and to what advantage?
I'd like to call your attention to a fellow who lived a long long time ago in Greece whom you've all heard of many times in your life: SOCRATES. He may or may not have existed as a real person! But, the man who gave us our view of SOCRATES (as a person or a mere character) was PLATO, purportedly his student and admirer.
Listen to what SOCRATES says about our subject of Evil.
"No man voluntarily pursues evil, or that which he thinks to be evil. To prefer evil to good is not in human nature and when a man is compelled to choose one of two evils, no one will choose the greater when he may have the less." So, a Muslim who thinks his country is being over run by infidels might see life as two choices: endure the blasphemy or take violent action as a martyr and land in paradise as a reward. He choses the lesser of the two evils!
Socrates goes on to tell us that what any one man may desire as good might really turn out to have disasterous impact on his life and others. "what they suppose to be goods although the are really evils."
To Socrates man is logical and not intent on self-harm because men, by nature pursue the best for themselves. The obstacle is the ability to see accurately what is best and not the intention itself.
So, for Socrates, at least it is the DECEPTION OF APPEARANCES and human ignorance at work which leads them toward evil.
Clearly mankind must do SOMETHING for themselves to survive in a "kill and eat" world. How each man does it is personal and situational. Yet, none who are sane make things difficult for themselves on purpose. It is a matter of actually identifying the optimum course of action that creates the problem. Education varies.
Man quickly discovers that everything in life has connection to everything else. Something for nothing does not exist; there is always a consequence. Cause and Effect rules our universe. What mankind discovers is that man is always trading NOW against LATER. What he does right now comes back to haunt him (or help him) LATER. The EFFECT of our action now is what we live with day to day. In a social situation among humans we also live with the effect of the actions of others.
The person who has WISDOM learns the patterns of behavior produce the patterns of consequence. Each of us either develop our own view of how the world works or we accept a hand-me-down and ready made off-the-rack version of this. We use this guide and the actual life we experience tests the veracity of the information.
IF LIFE is necessary; then good activity must sustain it and good is what enhances the quality of life. Here is our key to understanding what EVIL IS. OUR VIEW OF GOOD determines the choices we make and that, ironically and counter-intuitively leads to the EVIL we do!! We always choose the __lesser__of the two evils.
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The human nature we each possess gives us common ground to agree on what certain GOODS are:
Wealth, health, strength, beauty, longevity,pleasure, honor (or fame), virtue, knowledge and friendship.
Consequently, that which serves to threaten our possession of these goods produces the opposite condtion which---according to our tolerence for severity--we call EVIL.
Our religion, our philosophy and our world view force us to choose what we will do to preserve our view of the GOOD. We never chose the GREATER evil; always the lesser.
But, the lesser evil we choose is viewed from our own point of view. Our point of view comes from our experience and what we've been told to believe.
BELIEF lies at the root of our choosing the lesser evils in life.
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Good is not powerless. The power of GOOD depends on its CONSISTENCY. It is like the ice covering the lake we skate on; any weakness can lead to disaster!
Logically we must demand that the frozen lake be CONSISTENTLY thick before we venture out on it. So too, our view of GOOD is that it is either BLACK or WHITE.
Can we demonstrate this necessity?
Yes!
A "liar" in common parlance is not a person who refuses to tell the truth about every single thing he says. No, one or two whoppers will serve to identity him. Why? We demand of TRUTH that it be consistent and will not accept a grey area of inconsistency. If truth is inconsistent it is not truth at all! BLACK or WHITE.
A "hypocrite" is not a person who betrays every single idea he holds. No, nor is a thief a person who steals everything he comes into contact with. We identify the hypocrite and the thief from the merest inconsistency of variance from integrity and respect for other people's property. BLACK or WHITE.
A "killer" doesn't murder every person he meets. In fact, he may respect the life of 99.99% of the people he knows; but, the occasional "hit" he performs for the Mafia will serve to identify him in our view with that label of "killer". This inconsistency, even though a tiny percent is enough. BLACK or WHITE.
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Are we ready to define EVIL? Yes.
For EVIL to exist there has to be an inconsistency in good people to even the smallest degree!
This is PERMISSION. This violates the BLACK and WHITE rule. It cracks open the door and allows the EVIL inside. How? Evil is the consequence of choice made by people trying to AVOID the greater of two bad consequences.
The two evils (or choices) are the result of allowing that tiny inconsistency to exist. It is the patch of ice that is thin. When you skate over it the plunge into freezing water brings the disaster and not the fact that 99.99% of all the rest of the ice is thick and safe.
COMPROMISE with evil is impossible! Once you permit one tiny patch of grey in a BLACK and WHITE ethic of Good and ONLY good; you allow the choice of the greater good and the lesser evil. (Misidentified! There is only the choice of the lesser of two evils.)
What compromise can food and poison have but death?
This is why good men, logical men, moral men throughout history have brought EVIL down upon themselves. They have compromised!
Evil can only exist as a parasite exists by living off the host; in this case: goodness.
That which is RATIONAL is good. When mankind allows the irrational to exist in everyday life they permit the feeding of the evil parasite. BLACK and WHITE. The irrational view dilutes the goodness of the rational and permits the existence of superstition, junk science, the paranormal, wishful thinking, delusional pursuit, etc.
In short: crazy thinking.
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What is COMPROMISE?
Compromise is adjusting to a situation by "giving up" the absolute good and choosing the lesser of two evils. Integrity is soundness and the opposite of integrity is compromise. To allow a crack in Integrity IS IRRATIONAL.
What am I saying cannot be compromised without allowing a place for EVIL? MORAL PRINCIPLE.
Should a householder bargain with a burglar as to which objects might be carried away without payment?
This would indicate the burglar has some claim to ownership!
No, it is the threat of the greater evil (being shot) that forces the compromise.
Life on planet Earth is laden with threats of death. Life is the ultimate good. By choosing between lesser evils (life or death) on a grand scale we compromise or die. The grey area forces its way into everyday living because man does not CONTROL all of life's happenings.
Else, why would any man choose principle over life and surrender to a martyr's death?
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No person who exists (or who ever existed) can escape the choices that come with living. Each person acts on some MORAL PRINCIPLE whether they acknowledge it philosophically or not. Some guiding fundamental is present in human consciousness perforce. It is either chosen carefully are comes by default of passivity and obedience. It is explicit or implicit.
In Economics it is said that "bad money drives the good money out" and it is equally true of morality. The bad drives out the good. Look at neighborhoods where crime is permitted to exist. The good people vanish leaving behind the compromise living conditions.
In any compromise between GOOD and EVIL it is evil that always wins.
Remember, the EVIL is the irrational, the illogical, the compromised morality and the choice of a lesser over a greater harm.
Mankind cannot avoid choice. It is part of the nature of existence. Identifying each choice by a guiding principle and acting on it in a BLACK or WHITE manner determines the outcome. Grey=compromise=evil.
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To sum up:
EVIL clashes with the facts of reality because it is irrational. Irrational choices destroy the happiness in life and ultimately eat away at all the good in it.
EVIL COUNTS ON the element of good by the "exceptions" allowed. Living without contradicting rational adherence to reality is BLACK or WHITE.
GOOD has nothing whatever to gain from a compromise with EVIL. The IRRATIONAL, however, has everything to gain from it. Misidentifying the abandonment of good is irrational. It sets as its object the attainment of something of value, but, denies that payment may consist of suffering harm to oneself or one's loved ones. The irrational tells us you can HAVE without paying the price for having. It violates cause and effect.
EVIL is not consistent. GOOD is consistent. LOGIC is consistent. The IRRATIONAL is inconsistent. Remember our liar, our hypcrite, our thief and our killer? They were consistent 99.99% of the time. It is that tiny inconsistency and irrationality that was their undoing.
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Faking your reality is the beginning of EVIL.
Not demanding of yourself and others that reality be represented 100% leads to EVIL.
Substituting irrational thinking for reality is EVIL.
Choosing to pretend that this life isn't REAL and only the NEXT LIFE is real is EVIL.
Ignoring the laws of physics leads to irrational behavior and evil follows.
The Liar, the Hypocrite, the Thief and the Killer have made a tiny compromise with reality. They don't see themselves in a real way. They CHOOSE to see themselves as a majority view. Consensus is what they weigh against the tiny evil.
The identifying mark of the irrational person is pointing to an even greater EVIL and saying: "Look, I'm making the lesser choice; I'm doing good."
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CONCLUSION:
When EVIL wins it wins by a DEFAULT. The default is the vacuum created when good allows a place.
The truly willfull man who surrenders to violent acts and depraved desires finds a place in this world when the good people around him fail to point their fingers in accusation. The mother refuses to see the evil and excuses it.The Social worker refuses to see it and gives pity. The schools refuse to see the evil and offers special needs programs. The courts refuse to see it by slap on the wrist verdicts. The liberal refuses to see it and says it was poverty and bad education. The conservative refuses to see it and calls it lack of family values. Everywhere evil exists it does so when the rational gives way to the irrational.
NO MAN identifies himself as evil. Life seeks life. To live man must be right in his choices. To admit to being evil is to admit to being wrong. A man who sees himself as wrong commits suicide or goes insane.
Who is left to BE evil? The illogical man. The irrational man. The superstitious man. The mystical thinker who shuns reality. The religious thinker who embraces a false reality of cause and effect. The person who leaves the vacuum in the GOOD by one default of rational thought sucks the consequences into his life.
What is the measure of Evil? Man's life! Survival. Man's reason is his basic means of survival. The rational man seeks a good life which means: Wealth, health, strength, beauty, longevity,pleasure, honor (or fame), virtue, knowledge and friendship. We measure EVIL by the impact of irrational choice on this list of goods.
When you refuse to think rationally, you BLANK out. That is the moment when you suspend your conscious lifeline to good conduct. This self-induced blindness allows you to stumble and fall. It is not ignorance; but, the REFUSAL to see and the REFUSAL to know that makes compromise for EVIL.
EVIL is the absence of values, the abandonment of virtues, the avoidance of rational choice.
The SOURCE OF ALL EVIL is the person who is GOOD and makes room for it by avoiding reality.
Theologically, the ultimate source of all evil is GOD himself! By allowing Evil to transpire once and then continuing to allow the proliferation of poor choice, God is the author of all evil. He alone possesses the power to stop it. To say God has a reason is to say God has chosen the lesser of two evils:
1.The sickness, death and destruction of the innocent to prove a point.
2.The losing of face at having produced creatures who would not obey him.
We live with that choice every day! (If you take the Bible to be an accurate descripton of reality!)
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My own personal opinion is that false reality comes in many forms and it includes mystical philsophy and religion as well as irrational political solutions.
Each of us has some small measure of control over our day to day life. If we refuse to compromise our rational and logical mind for the sake of a soothing bromide of irrational explanation we go a long way toward avoiding the Evil in this world and adding to it with our own.
Terry