Term Paper on "Evil Is Ambiguous"

Term Paper 5 pages (1970 words) Sources: 3 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

evil is ambiguous as it has many different meanings. Evil can be either morally bad or wrong, it can cause pain or injury and is supposed to be a manifestation of an evil force or power. A person has an abstract idea of what evil is but then it takes an experience to make us understand what evil truly is. There are different interpretations of evil amongst people of different races, religions, age groups, sexes and mentalities. At the same time they all agree that evil always has a negative outcome both morally and physically.

What is evil?

Evil is considered to be morally wrong as it is in violation of universal law. The famous Greek philosopher Plato believed that the idea of evil was a result of ignorance and the term "good" came from the inner desires of what people wanted. According to Plato, evil is considered to be an absence of good. Plato had a strong view that good was in equation with wisdom and that evil was present in the absence of good. This in turn led to ignorance in the absence of wisdom. In this way Plato had a strong view that evil existed because of ignorance. Ignorant people did not think with their heads and that's what led them to committing sins and acts of evil. (Symposium, Plato, Trans. Alexander Nehamas & Paul Woodruff,1989)

Evil can be classified as an act which causes pain purposely and not accidentally. A person committing an act of evil knows that he/she is doing something which is morally wrong but then still proceeds to do it. Evil is an ugly thing but then one needs to have evil so that there is good in the world. There has to be something out there which will allow us to classify something as an act of good so that it can be distinguished from evil. Evil has to be there so it can balance goodwill in the world so that life can go on. This is known as the theory of duality where it states that life is a struggle between good or evil. It is believed that evil and good are different parts of the pole and cancel each other out There is a school of thought which feels that unintentional harm can't be classified as evil. An example can be a person accidentally running over a dog accidentally and killing it shows that the act wasn't done purposely and can't be classified as evil. There is no line drawn between good and evil because the boundaries are decided by one's personal opinions. A person's opinions depend on one's childhood, nationality, social class, education, occupation, religion and mentality. Evil is based on the person's actions and decisions which decide the growth of their spiritual well being. A person resorts to evil and forgets all rational thought as one wants to have power and be able to control the lives and possessions of others.

Definition of good and evil

It's not easy to define good and evil because there are a lot of issues which come in the way. This can have severe repercussions if we punish the good and reward evil because this in turn helps to spread evil. It is thought that good moral decisions strengthen the community while evil weakens it. The only way one can distinguish good from evil is through wisdom. A lesser form of Evil is also known as malice because it allows a person to harm a person purposely.

St. Augustine had his own views on evil. Augustine felt that as every other human being he committed an act of evil by sinning as a young man. He knew it was wrong but he had no idea why he did it. He was quoted to have said ("Could I enjoy doing wrong for no other reason than that it was wrong?"). This was an epiphany which led to believe that if he were to think straight and evaluate himself he could see that his ignorance led him away from the path of good and God. His ignorance finally made him see the errors of his ways and allowed him to go straight. (Confessions, Saint Augustine, Penguin Classics, 1961)

It is important to have religion as the centre of everything for a community so that it can help distinguish between good and evil. A religious area of worship eg. Mosque, synagogue, church has a set of religious leaders which educates its people about the sort of behavior which is good or bad. These religious leaders allow people to take steps to avoid evil and better their lives. It can be said that committing sins spreads evil and affects everyone else's lives.

There are two different schools of thought on the nature of evil. They are moral absolutism and moral relativism. Moral absolutism considers the acts of good and evil as something which has been pre-determined by God or a person's conscience. Moral relativism states that good and evil are determined by the local culture or customs.

There are countless ways of doing evil and it can have a great impact on our lives in contrast to the far lesser ways of doing good. It is far more important to prevent acts of evil than to promote goodwill. Some acts of evil are committed because the person gets some sadistic pleasure from the suffering of others. Some acts of evil such as violence, vices, and antisocial behavior can be described as immoral behavior

Philosophers believe that the characteristics of an evil person are that he passes on his/her evils to other people by separating them from the good people in society. An evil person always maintains a good level of respect in society and manipulates his/her way through ways to remain on top. Furthermore an evil person does not consider him/her self as evil

According to Socrates,."..those who are ignorant of their nature do not desire them [evil]; but they desire what they suppose to be good, although they are really evil; and if they are mistaken and suppose the evil to be good, they really desire good?" Menos, Plato. Page 203. this means that there are people out there who are aware of their nature. These people desire things which they think are good but actually constitute evil. They are so blinded by the desire to get those things that they suppose the evil to be something good. This would mean that they have good desires but then don't know what they are doing really constitutes evil.

There are different definitions of evil around the world. Then there some cultural systems which believe that evil are something which does not follow the tenets of a law.

There are some acts which are universally evil because of the nature of those acts ie. Murder, assault, etc. there are cultural societies who consider all sorts of pre-marital and homosexual sex acts as evil. Then in contrast there may be societies which do not consider these acts of evil as they find it acceptable in society as long as no one gets hurt. This proves that some acts of human nature may have approval in some societies as they don't believe it's wrong.

Existence of Evil in the world

It is believed that evil pre-existed in this world and that a law maker is required to set the rules on what is right and wrong. Moralists belive that God is a law maker who has already made the laws before he created the universe. God had provided humans the understanding between good and evil. people can choose between good and evil as it is their own choice to make. This is a test by God so He can see what his people do in this world. There are skeptics who claim that people don't have the freedom of choice as they don't have the ability to be able to do evil even if they have the freedom to do so. A person can make his/her own choice because it's his/her nature which makes them this way. It is felt that if someone was born good then that person would have a level of free choices. People who have led lives without suffering or evil have the tendency to commit some act of evil at some point. Then there are some who have lived their lives not causing any troubles for anyone. It can be said that no one is born good naturally. A person has to look upon his/herself to unleash the good or evil characteristics of his/her personality. It would be out of place for God to create every human being as a good person because then that would be an example of controlled will. Every human being has his/her own will which leads them to do what they like. Perhaps evil is allowed to exist so that humans can see the negative side of evil and try to balance it with moralistic acts of… READ MORE

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