Definition of Evil?

[Guest Prufrock]

Just read PIBBSNEAKER's post about the most "evil" men and women in history.  (Great topic by the way)  But it got me thinking ... by what standards are one to judge evil?  I'd really like to know what you guys think evil is or what is this most evil thing a person can do?

For me, there are two distinct lots for evil to be put into:

supernatural and human.

Supernatural evils are upper-case 'E' Evils.  Their power will always outweigh human evils (the lower-case 'e' evils).  To me, the most evil thing a human can do is deem someone else inconsequential.  All other cruelties flow from this one act: murder, rape, genocide, slavery, etc.

~Tim

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[Jeffry Willis]

all evil is rooted in self. uppercase or lowercase e.

[Guest Wellington]

Hi

Ouch! That is a billion $ question!  

MM showed us mainly that division in two kinds of evil. However, these examples were well beyond the border line. It seems to me that many others are more difficult to put into categories. Are experiments on animals or humans on behalf of medical progress Good or Evil? When I first read this topic I was tempted to say that Evil is everything Good is not, but I do not think it is that easy. It may seem selfish, but I would put into the Evil file everything that I would not like to be done to me. So killing is, neighbors slamming doors at 2 am are, puncturing tires is, hugging is not (well, depends on who is hugging...), etc... But if I were involved in any "Freedom Army" would I still put things on the same level? If I needed to kill in order to put things right, would those rightened things be Good or Evil? If one was to kill his child with the formal and divine assurance that this act would put an end to suffering, misery, wars, and every other bad things, would it be Evil? I am sure I will never have the correct answer, sorry!

By the way, it seems to me that I am posting an answer to say that I cannot answer. I definitely need some aspirin...  ???

[Guest Veritas]

"Evil is that which deems another person inconsequential."

Yes, but some human evil goes beyond that to determine a person as unnecessary...and beyond that, those who decide that a person must suffer at long length before death.  There's a word for it--something more than sadist.

Veritas