What is evil?

@ESKARENA1 (18261)
May 3, 2007 3:44pm CST
What is evil and where does it come from? In a study 35 healthy undergraduates were randomly asigned roles of guard or prisoner, those asigned guard positions behaved in an evil way. Evil isnt quality, inside but rather caused by situational factors that many would be unable to resist so what do you think?
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3 responses
@derek_a (10874)
4 May 07
This an an age old question. I see it as a paradox. Semantically speaking it's all a paradox. Even the "evil doer" will feel good at what he does! Seriously, I see evil/good as a definition of human-kind. Is a cat evil as it plays and tortures its prey without mercy? So, if our finite minds could transcend this world of opposites, we may see an entirely different view of good and evil and see how necessary it is for this world to continue in existence.
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@ESKARENA1 (18261)
4 May 07
As always its a great answer, and with luck, one day i might be able to understand it blessed be
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@stephcjh (38473)
• United States
3 May 07
I bet alot of the prisoners feel a little guilty inside because they did something eveil to get them behind bars. The guards are becoming evil people to the prisoners because now they are letting their authority go to their heads. I think eveil does come from the inside of people and alot of people do not know how to control their inner self which makes them act out in evil ways.
@ESKARENA1 (18261)
4 May 07
i like this idea of having a strong inner self, it is a good concept to keep in mind blessed be
• United States
3 May 07
Nailing down such absolutes as "good" or "evil" is tough. One person's good may be another person's evil! No, no one has some hidden organ in them that produces "evil" as a quality inside but when you say "caused by situational factors that many would be unable to resist" my mind starts instantly rebelling! People have the ability to resist any situation factors. I control my decisions to act in any certain way and if I allow outside influences to guide me to the wrong choices that is still completely my responsibility. Whether they choose to resist it or not, can readily think of a different solution, understand their options, etc. is the real question.