Does Good and Evil Truely Exist?

[IrOnLaW]

Does good and evil really exist, or are they culturally embedded into our way of thinking and acting as children. Or is it embedded into our dna to know what's right and what's wrong? Have there been any studies about this? Or is it sheer coincidence who will be good and who will be evil and all that's in-between??

[tomdemaine]

http://www.lulu.com/content/1270751

[tame_deuces]

There are arguments for both. Suffice to say you don't have to believe in god to accept good and evil. Though of course their 'meaning' will get less spiritual it doesn't mean you will have to assume all morals are culturally inherited. Humans as a whole for example at a large share some values which seem to cross cultures for the most part, and 'simpler' social animals also share some similarities.

From a purely materialistic viewpoint, you could probably define these 'basics' as the best fit for a swarm intelligence system, meaning it would tend to naturally gravitate towards them even if put together of free agents.

[IrOnLaW]

Okay, here's another.... Are we born good or evil??

[MiloMinderbinder]

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Does good and evil really exist, or are they culturally embedded into our way of thinking and acting as children. Or is it embedded into our dna to know what's right and what's wrong? Have there been any studies about this? Or is it sheer coincidence who will be good and who will be evil and all that's in-between??

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Are you expecting to find something like goodium and evilium, the two elements responsible for good and evil? If not, then what are you expecting to find?

[MiloMinderbinder]

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Okay, here's another.... Are we born good or evil??

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We're born snarkaliffarrific, just another word that I can define as I want.

[tame_deuces]

[ QUOTE ]
Okay, here's another.... Are we born good or evil??

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Following my 'materialistic' explanation you are indeed most likely born 'good' (though not in a spiritual sense) because it would the logical state to have gravitated too (the proof is as given above, that certain norms and values are shared almost universally, these then represent the most likely values to be gravitated towards in a swarm intelligence setting), though honourable exceptions will apply. Humans also rely on cultural learning to imbue us with further values, so any inborn 'goodness' certainly isn't a form of good that would pass with flying colours in any religion and neither are we purely 'swarm intelligent' (since we interact and learn from eachother).

[IrOnLaW]

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Are you expecting to find something like goodium and evilium, the two elements responsible for good and evil? If not, then what are you expecting to find? [ QUOTE ]


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I guess I would say that I am looking for whether we are born good or evil, and actually if those two qualities truely exist.

I understand their is a infinite wide spectrum between good and evil. I know you could say that they are ideas created about society's inhabitants, but I think you and I can recognize someone who is good and someone who is evil.

For example, someone good is a family man, who treats his family great, pays all the bills, treats others with respect, never gets angry or hostile, so on and so forth.

Someone evil is a child molester, a rapist, a murderer, an embezzler, "the American Psycho," whom is a personal fav, but not for his devilish qualities.

Then you could say, if the majority of all people suddenly became evil, then the labels would be switched, but I think you know what I am trying to identify, if not, good luck. Thanks

[foal]

Evil is a human-made concept that can't be defined in any tangible or quantifiable way. It can be used as an adjective in the way "disgusting" or "amazing" are used. The intended meaning of "evil" though, will vary more from individual to individual than those other words will.

It's foolish to ask "are we born good or evil?" without explaining what you mean more clearly. If you mean are we more benevolent or malicious, then at birth I don't think we're smart enough to be either. If you don't just mean at birth then clearly it depends on the individual. But it would seem silly to classify someone with the simple label of "good" or "evil" simply because they exhibit slightly more of one trait than another. And I picked benevolence and maliciousness arbitrarily, it could be judged in any number of ways. That's why you need to define the terms of the question.

[GoodCallYouWin]

That which exists through coercion and force is evil; that which exists through voluntarism is good.