The greatest evil

[SG15Z]

Humanity.

Sure politians are pretty evil, but their are some good politians. (very very very few). Religion has done a lot of bad things but it's done a lot of good things too. Anything and everything can be used for either good or evil, but they are inheritantly good nor evil. They are tools, it's the person that uses it for evil that is evil.

Think about it, a hammer isn't good, and it isn't bad either. You can use it for good things (building houses for those who need a house, or whatever) and it can be used for evil (like beating someone with it). But the hammer isn't evil just because it was used for evil. It's the force that caused it to be used in an evil act that is evil.

That's why humanity is the greatest evil.

[ArenaBoy]

Idolatry and false hope.

[alowlypotato]

However, we humans know that killing, torturing, and rape is wrong, but we still do it.

Ah, but the problem is that not everyone believes that these things are wrong in certain circumstances. For example, the man who has been raised in a culture that considers women to be subservient to and the property of men isn't going to view rape as wrong; he's going to view it as his right.

(I'm in no way, shape or form supporting that viewpoint, btw; just making a point).

Still, I agree with the viewpoint that since evil is a human concept, only humans are capable of committing it. And I agree with you, McDreidel, that animals don't (and can't) really have an abstract notion of right and wrong. A cat might play with her prey or kill for fun, but since she and the other cats around her can't ponder it all and decide that this is bad behavior, we really can't judge her actions by that sort of standard.

So...what do I think is the greatest evil? I wouldn't say humanity altogether, in general; we as a species are capable of doing a great deal of good. When I think about evil, I think about the fact that everyone can experience despair, suffering, trauma, etc. Even women raised in a culture of the sort I mentioned above feel the strain of their treatment; they might not speak out against it, because they feel they are doing their duty or that it is simply the way of things, but there is still a part of them that suffers and despairs. That is the part that transcends norms and mores and the strange, difficult notion of pure relativism. Great evil, to me, is any act that willfully causes suffering, inflicts trauma, or robs a person of hope, regardless of the actor's motives.

I guess the next task would be to define "suffering," "trauma," and "despair," since it just occurred to me that a clever debater could argue that term papers cause suffering.