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Injustice Part B: "evil"
Sep. 15th, 2012 03:48 pmInjustice Part B: Good and Evil
This is a chunk of my moral philosophy. It's informed by plenty of lessons and discussions, but nobody has told me these things in so many words. If something is too abstract I would be glad to try to clarify.
I've said before that I think humans are basically capable of empathy towards each other. Most people are "good people" and "mean well", as we often say: they want to live their own lives, but they can understand that others do too, and they act accordingly. We know that there are the rare people have little or no capacity for empathy, who actively wish harm, though I don't know if I've met any; and we know that desperation and fear can make one override empathy and act for survival. We're familiar with the qustions "what is 'evil'? Does 'evil' reside in one's mental state, one's willful desire to do harm to others? Is it synonymous with "bad", is it just about the consequences to its victims rather than the intent of the doers?" I know there are philosophical terms for the pieces I'm mixing together, in this proposed start on "where is the evil in most people?"
( Read more... )
This is a chunk of my moral philosophy. It's informed by plenty of lessons and discussions, but nobody has told me these things in so many words. If something is too abstract I would be glad to try to clarify.
I've said before that I think humans are basically capable of empathy towards each other. Most people are "good people" and "mean well", as we often say: they want to live their own lives, but they can understand that others do too, and they act accordingly. We know that there are the rare people have little or no capacity for empathy, who actively wish harm, though I don't know if I've met any; and we know that desperation and fear can make one override empathy and act for survival. We're familiar with the qustions "what is 'evil'? Does 'evil' reside in one's mental state, one's willful desire to do harm to others? Is it synonymous with "bad", is it just about the consequences to its victims rather than the intent of the doers?" I know there are philosophical terms for the pieces I'm mixing together, in this proposed start on "where is the evil in most people?"
( Read more... )
