Being Evil

[Doom Shepherd]

>amusing ethical subjectivist doesn't know that I'm the Ideal Observer.

[Estophelen]

Because something is evil for us doesn't mean it's evil for the others or that it's intrinsically evil. But people tend to think, that they must be right. It's a common symptom called "My opinion is a fact. What you believe in is wrong".

[Alyxx Thorne]

I guess that's true. Morality tends to be a greyzone at times.

[Estophelen]

It's doesn't really matter. It's mostly philosophical topic as long as people behave.

[Alyxx Thorne]

In my opinion, being evil is taking pleasure in other people's misery and being completely self-centered. Of course, that can often be related to how you are brought up and other environmental factors so i don't believe anyone are born evil or are 100% evil.

[BTGBullseye]

No one is born evil, just some are predisposed to performing evil acts.

 

And that definition is quite close to several I've found, the following one being my favorite.

 

Evil is commonly associated with conscious and deliberate wrongdoing, discrimination designed to harm others, humiliation of people designed to diminish their psychological well-being and dignity, destructiveness, motives of causing "unnecessary" pain or suffering and acts of unnecessary or indiscriminate violence.

[Alyxx Thorne]

Yeah, I'd say that's my definition, putting your own needs before others, and taking perverse pleasure in humiliating and harming others.

[Doom Shepherd]

I believe R.A. Heinlein said it best: “Sin lies only in hurting other people unnecessarily. All other "sins" are invented nonsense. (Hurting yourself is not sinful -- just stupid.)”

 

(However, keep in mind that the concepts of "hurt" and "unnecessarily" are fluid.)

 

Putting your own needs before others? That's not a sin, that's THE most basic survival strategy. You can do no others any good if you kill yourself serving them.

 

Putting your own wants before the needs of others, though, that's another story.

[Alyxx Thorne]

Yeah, that's definitely a better way of putting it. I think it's easy to confuse needs and wants.

[Doom Shepherd]

I think it's easy to confuse needs and wants.

 

Too damned easy. And done by too many people who really out to know better.

 

Take people excusing things like theft, because a poor person did it. The VAST majority of the time, theft is about wants, not needs.

 

Seriously, who steals FOOD anymore? Who has to? When you hear that someone broke into a house, you don't hear "two loaves of bread and six tins of meat were taken." You hear about the stolen TV and stereo and game system, or what-have-you.

 

There are easier ways to get food than stealing it.

 

Video/software piracy? 100% about wants. (To tie this in to another thread.)

[Alyxx Thorne]

You have a very good point there.

[Jack Noir]

So you would say that someone who are utterly defenseless being attacked for no reason and killed is not evil in any way?

"No reason" according to who? Who made you god and gave you the right to decide whose reasons are valid and whose are not? Why are your personal beliefs and values more valid than those of anyone else who views things differently? Who decided that the way you feel about a person's death is the only right way to feel? Where does this magical power come from? Why is it only possessed by you, and not your opponents?

 

Wait, I already forgot that you don't understand the concept of subjectivity. Shit, why did I reply?

[Pinkie Pie]

So you would say that someone who are utterly defenseless being attacked for no reason and killed is not evil in any way?

"No reason" according to who?

According to Alyxx, who has the power to define the motives of any hypothetical person he puts in any hypothetical scenario he thinks up. I think you're reading into the question a little too much.

[Alyxx Thorne]

So you would say that someone who are utterly defenseless being attacked for no reason and killed is not evil in any way?

"No reason" according to who? Who made you god and gave you the right to decide whose reasons are valid and whose are not? Why are your personal beliefs and values more valid than those of anyone else who views things differently? Who decided that the way you feel about a person's death is the only right way to feel? Where does this magical power come from? Why is it only possessed by you, and not your opponents?

 

Wait, I already forgot that you don't understand the concept of subjectivity. Shit, why did I reply?

I think it was a misformulation. You're right, everyone have their reasons, there's never such a thing as "no reason".

[Kirkreng]

I think it's easy to confuse needs and wants.

 

Too damned easy. And done by too many people who really out to know better.

 

Take people excusing things like theft, because a poor person did it. The VAST majority of the time, theft is about wants, not needs.

 

Seriously, who steals FOOD anymore? Who has to? When you hear that someone broke into a house, you don't hear "two loaves of bread and six tins of meat were taken." You hear about the stolen TV and stereo and game system, or what-have-you.

 

There are easier ways to get food than stealing it.

 

Video/software piracy? 100% about wants. (To tie this in to another thread.)

To be fair people who steal electronics such as TV's usually do it because it is an item with usually a guaranteed high value as well as it is easy to find and will most likely just be sold for money. Money with said thief can buy food. That is not to say that people will use it for food or whatever, I am simply pointing out that that it still has an equal chance of being stolen because of need rather than want.

[Doom Shepherd]

I think it's easy to confuse needs and wants.

 

Too damned easy. And done by too many people who really out to know better.

 

Take people excusing things like theft, because a poor person did it. The VAST majority of the time, theft is about wants, not needs.

 

Seriously, who steals FOOD anymore? Who has to? When you hear that someone broke into a house, you don't hear "two loaves of bread and six tins of meat were taken." You hear about the stolen TV and stereo and game system, or what-have-you.

 

There are easier ways to get food than stealing it.

 

Video/software piracy? 100% about wants. (To tie this in to another thread.)

To be fair people who steal electronics such as TV's usually do it because it is an item with usually a guaranteed high value as well as it is easy to find and will most likely just be sold for money. Money with said thief can buy food. That is not to say that people will use it for food or whatever, I am simply pointing out that that it still has an equal chance of being stolen because of need rather than want.

 

No, nobody steals for money for food, because food is still easier to get.

 

If someone steals something to resell for money, it is infinitely more likely that they will be spending that money on drugs, which is another "want."