Does Evil exist? Do you know it when you see it? How do you

deal with it? Will Good triumph over Evil? Why or why not?

:P

"Mom! Dad! Don't touch it! It's Evil!"

what about on a personal level?

:evilgrin:


what is evil? Is it an emotion? is it an action? what defines and constitutes evil? biology or religion?

and game theory. Nash equilibrium and all that.

I did read this recently.

http://www.update.uu.se/~fbendz/philo/objective_morality.html">Why There Is No Objective Morality

for participating in this survey? Are you being paid for conducting this survey? If so, by who? And if not, why not?

My answers: Yes, Pretty much so but even at my advanced age I can still be deceived, I fight it, I hope so, Just because I owe it a smackdown or two...Evil never did me any good...

but I wouldn't call it evil.

I don't believe there are bad entities (Satan, demons, etc...) tempting people into doing evil. I guess I'd call it human nature. :shrug:

where did it come from?

I have no idea for sure, but I do not believe it came from a higher power.

:shrug:

I want to believe in one, but there's no evidence.

the "evil" at work within you. :shrug:

The doubt is from the lack of physical evidence and proof, not evil.

;) :rofl:

Why the :rofl:?

:shrug:

check your pm, in a minute.

But I do not equate that with learned hatred, assholishness, or psychotic mental disorders.

I consider it more of a cruel and heinous nature. Not quite sure how to explain it.

I don't know of anyone personally that I would consider truly evil. Mean, nasty, rude, obnoxious, narcissistic, abusive, hateful, obnoxious, etc., for sure. I'm not sure if I would categorize that as truly evil though.

to be an evil action?

He (a psychologist) was kind of an authority on evil people. He thought there should be a DSM diagnostic code for evil in a person.

In that book, he did refer to evil. It's been a long time since I read the book, but as I recall, it was in the sense of parents physically and/or sexually abusing their children.

I would, however, be interested in reading his other book "People of the Lie", now that you mention it. Thank you for the suggestion.

I think the psychiatric term "sociopath" most closely aligns with true, innate "evil." I have met a couple of sociopaths, and while neither of them are likely to commit the kind of heinous crimes that will land them on the news, they were both utterly bone-chillingly evil. They had absolutely no empathy or compassion for other people - not a shred. They "had friends" or "were nice" insofar as it benefited them socially or got them something they needed or wanted - altruism is not even something these people can wrap their heads around, let alone feel. They were both manipulative as a matter of course, and lied confidently and easily about both insignificant and very important things. Neither of them may ever be murderers or rapists, but they were the most evil people I've ever met.

I have made the acquaintance of several through out my life.

"I like the way you smile at me
I felt the heat that enveloped me
And what I saw I liked to see
I never knew where evil grew

I should have steered away from you
My friend told me to keep clear of you
But something drew me near to you
I never knew where evil grew

Evil grows in the dark
Where the sun it never shines
Evil grows in cracks and holes
And lives in people's minds

Evil grew, it's part of you
And now it seems to be
That every time I look at you
Evil grows in me

If I could build a wall around you
I could control the thing that you do
But I couldn't kill the will within you
And it never shows
The place where evil grows

Evil grows in the dark
Where the sun it never shines
Evil grows in cracks and holes
And lives in people's minds

Evil grew, it's part of you
And now it seems to be
That every time I look at you
Evil grows in me"

I love YouTube :bounce:

Yes it is a song, by the Poppy Family, from 1970 or so, and Yes I found a You Tube link!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zOdRdoLfkI

You Tube is great!

awesome!!! Thank you :bounce:

I make the poem of evil also, I commemorate that part also,
I am myself just as much evil as good, and my nation is-
and I say there is in fact no evil,
(Or if there is I say it is just as important to you, to the land or to me, as any thing else.)

Walt Whitman "Leaves of Grass"

Deny it at your peril :D

"... it is just as important to you, to the land or to me, as any thing else." amen.

Some one whose intentions are to cause trouble and strife, madness and mayhem.

a rose by another name still smells sweet.

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Where are you? I want one for myself. :D

:P

I don't know the answers.

:D :hi:

that is truly an evil action.

Will it triumph? That's up to us.

therefore are not capable of recognizing it.

IMO, whether evil exists in and of itself is irrelevant. All humans have entertained thoughts in their lives that would have to be considered evil. We have also entertained fantasies and imagined impossible things.

Evil exists when it's manifested. When somebody takes intent and deliberately manifests it in an evil way, they become evil (as well as their deeds). Hitler, Pol Pot, Amin, and yes, Cheney are all examples of people who acted in ill intentions and manifested evil.

Are all bad things evil? I don't believe so. Again, in my opinion, intent and action/inaction are necessary components of evil. Without that, a "bad" event is a tragedy.

I suppose evil does exist, as long as the capability of manifesting it exists.

We all know it when we see it.

the word "all" .... I question that wording. No biggie. I just don't think ALL people know and recognize evil.

Just like that poor guy whose job it is to gas the dogs and cats...he has an evil job but, he has a conscience.

I plead guilty to the charge of sweeping generalization. I suppose I could claim I was just addressing the worldly, intuitive folks here at DU, but that would be pretty lame.

:D :thumbsup: :hug:

I know it when I see it...if it is openly expressed, but most of the time evil not openly expressed. It is hidden.

How do I deal with it? With true evil, one must simply get away from it. Don't try to change or convert it. Just get away.

I believe good will eventually triumph over evil. This belief is based on how good and evil have manifested in my own life. I don't know why. Life is a mystery.

"With true evil, one must simply get away from it."

if one is lucky enough to escape unscathed. The moment you recognize it...LEAVE!! Immediately!!

Sometimes it is wrong to run in the face of evil and better to fight. Especially if there are innocents involved.

are you for real? or are you role playing from TV show?

Pure Evil, I have seen it. I don't know about you but...I know I am not equipped to beat it. I know. I have tried. It whooped my ass and I am not ashamed to admit it.

recognizing evil people when I meet them (although I'm getting better). How do I "deal" with it? Report any evil or illegal actions I witness to the property authorities, and stay the hell away from the evil-doers. Will good triumph over evil? I'd say we'll continue to have about a 50/50 split between the two for at least the rest of my life. Too much damage has been done to the existing and maturing populations for me to believe in a better ratio.

:hug: :hi:

We are so out of tune we don’t see it. We are programmed to believe evil is ugly and obvious, so far from the truth.

Good doesn’t always triumph, that is an old Judeo-Christian belief, but it can. If we allow evil to define things for us, we are playing its game. Evil will not triumph if you open your eyes and face your fears. Evil uses fear and every other negative emotion to control and use us.

Of course there is balance, if one can find it, but we all have the capacity for evil.

Some of us recognize it, no matter the beautiful and seductive outter wrappings. I am not sure that I agree with the statement: "we all have the capacity for evil."

I don't like the use of the word "all"

just a quirk of mine.

"Does Evil exist?"
8 years of George Bush should make that abundantly clear. The international page of the NY Times will remove any lingering doubt.

"Do you know it when you see it?"
Yes. It is usually pretty obvious.

"How do you deal with it?"
Depends what it is.

"Will Good triumph over Evil? Why or why not?"
No. Eventually good squeaks by, but in the mean time evil still happens and the damage often cannot be undone. This is because people's basic needs and desires cannot be suppressed forever. Also, those doing evil tend to be the exception and they do not live forever. A day may come, however, when the tools at the disposal of evil people are unassailable.

really.really.sad.

..just a misunderstood vampire.

what about Quentin?? :D :shrug:

This will explain. I'm only up to collection #6 out of 25.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=8238187&mesg_id=8238187

'k? :D :hi:

it could take many forms but at least as I understand, evil comes from one source i.e. Satan. With or without the Satanic component I don't believe in a "force" called evil. We don't call murder and bloodshed in nature "evil"; the construct applies really, only to human beings which suggests that it's a concept we created in an effort to describe bad shit. The human brain is a strange organ, and many, many things can go wrong with it, that is, can deviate from the norm. Some of the behaviors that result from the deviations, we call "evil." It's a good a word as any. edited for multiple typos

:rofl:

something about "strange organ" and I lost it :D

might tickle the imagination. :rofl:

;) :hug: :hi:

Alain Badiou has a good book about it. I recommend it.

In 1993, the philosopher Alain Badiou published Ethics: An Essay on the Understanding of Evil, an analysis, critique, and reformulation of the discourse of evil in contemporary thought. Rejecting both the theological and the scientific (psychological, sociological, etc.) interpretations of evil. he locates good and evil in the very structure of human subjectivity, agency, and freedom.

If I remember correctly, it was written as a text for a french college (teenagers) course, so it's not expected that you have full knowledge of philosophy, and especially this philosopher's earlier works, to understand it.

People of the Lie
Written in 1983, People of the Lie: The Hope For Healing Human Evil (ISBN 0671454927) followed on from Peck's first book. Peck describes the stories of several people who came to him whom he found particularly resistant to any form of help. He came to think of them as evil and goes on to describe the characteristics of evil in psychological terms, proposing that it could become a psychiatric diagnosis.

more at link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._Scott_Peck

sounds like an interesting idea, I suppose.

:D

:thumbsup:

That is the million dollar question. :hi:

what a grand battle it will be ;) :hi:

I don't know how to explain it otherwise. The person was detained for a petty crime. He had some kind of multiple personality thing going on. The different fragments were "talking to each other" through him, in different voices. He could not stop this from taking place and it was tormenting him. He screamed, howled, cried, talked like a child, grunted....everything in the book without a moment's rest, for hours and hours. And his eyes were like cracked marbles sort of (hard to explain). It was chilling. I thought I sensed evil in whatever had hold of him.

sounds like a paranoid schizophrenic having a full blown episode...is it demonic possession? I don't know.

Which is why the death penalty is forever a flawed concept.

it is a flawed concept because it asks good people to do a bad thing.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x8238058#8238319 ;)

Redstone

Epic Scale Evil :thumbsup: