Simple as that really. So is there such a thing as good and evil, or less religiously even just good and bad? Would you consider there to be just great amounts of grey and few things that are either extremes? Or is there no such thing, is it just a human construct to limit certain actions like free sex or murder? Discuss your opinion.
Well, if you want to know if good and evil exist you' d better define them first. I don' t agree with the catholic moral views I was taught, not just the rules themselves but also the metaphors drawn on morality origins and its definition, I disagree with the whole package. However I do believe there is such a thing as morality, good and bad. I just have a more practical approach : when you' re in kindergarten if you start punching the other kids to have their toys you' ll quickly notice no one wants to play with you anymore. Sooner or later from such experiences you draw the conclusion that you might want to refrain doing to others want you wouldn' t want them to do to you. Unfortunately things are rarely clear cut, the big problem is that grey area you mentioned. For instance take abortion (it' s just to illustrate, I don' t want to derail the thread with this) : at the beginning of the pregnancy the baby is just a bunch of cells, at the end of the pregnancy it' s a human being. From that we can gather that there is a line crossed somewhere in-between those two, the 20000 dollars question is, where exactly ? That' s the thing with morality, it' s easy to see where lines need to be drawn, but it' s much harder to decide where to draw it exactly. Morality invites debates, which I guess is one of the reasons that drove our ancestors to long for democracy. It' s a construct of every social animal mind, not just humans. The need for morality naturally arises from the need to live in society. If we lived alone, for our own sake, we wouldn' t need one. http://www.askwhy.co.uk/truth/b30animalmorals.php If you ignore that obnoxious "truth" title (certitude is a red herring in science) it' s a good read. I already posted it here once but maybe you skipped it.
The mark of any society is rules, explicit or not (allowing animals in this, as Patman brought up) about what is 'right' and 'wrong.' These aren't simple things born out of human hands; it's an attempt at organization. However, I don't think we can claim there is some all-encompassing, universal "evil." In Ancient Rome's early days, it was considered acceptable to murder your daughter for sleeping around. Today, while we perhaps frown on the daughter's behavior, no way the dad would get away with that. We can't even say that things like murder or rape are universally considered evil; for the former, there's always the death penalty. Even they have gray areas. On the flip-side, I'm not so sure there is any universal good either. I believe strongly in providing governmental aid to poor families, for example; I see this as the right thing to do, even if it has its possible faults. Others would not agree. Another example would be going out of one's way to help another person, no matter the personal cost; I see that as good. Others would not agree. It's very subjective. I think it's really something that you have to decide as an individual, and something you should discuss. If others exchange ideas of good and bad, our laws will (ideally) follow.
There is a lot of grey, that is true, but I think most humans can judge good from bad naturally. See, every society has its laws which say what is legal and what is not. That is the government's attempt at organising a society so that we don't end up in complete chaos. Is the aim of the criminal justice system not to make sure criminals don't strike again? Even still, humans themselves can look at the effects of their actions, and judge whether or not their actions were good or bad. When you were little, you probably made a lot of trouble around the house, as most young kids do. If you remember your mother's expression when she found out what you did, was she mad? As a child, humans can develop a sense of good and bad from what is going on around them-from the emotions they are feeling and the emotions that are being felt. This lays pretty much a solid foundation of morality. The way we were raised, along with the laws of our society, those things judge good and bad. Then of course there's the grey: Things like bio-ethical issues that are still being worked out. IMO these issues are fine to be legal. They might not be GOOD, but that is up to the human to decide. But its like Misty said, morality is subjective-what is good for one person is bad for another. Most extreme things, the human can naturally tell that its good or bad, but the grey areas depend on the individual. There is such a thing as morality, just not the kind of morality that suits every human being I'm pretty sure that made absolutely no sense whatsoever, but there you go
I don't believe in selfless acts, and thus not in good, and thus not in evil. Everyone, without exception, acts in a way that will give them satisfaction on some level. Jack The Ripper and Mother Theresa both did what they did because it made them feel good in some way. Satisfaction is the universal currency, but the means by which you can achieve such satisfaction can fit anywhere in the constructive-destructive spectrum.
morality is a subjective thing as many have said i believe that good and evil can only be defined at a point when something happens that is either purely constructive or purely destructive. but since everything has both merits and problems there is no way to determine what is purely good or evil without there being some either opposing opinion or differing viewpoint. in short there cannot be a clear good or evil until that condition can be met and even then it would only be subjective based on its relativity from its closer management. in a religious example some say that the christian God is a petty vindictive being who does things just to see how far he/she/it can push he/she/its followers and of course there are differing viewpoints to this and those that agree and like any true debate there are equally viable stances whether or not they are the minority. like the previously mentioned abortion debate there are sides and neither one is truly wrong or truly right. sorry about bad text on ps3
Good: helping old Miss Davis across the street Bad: raping and murdering Miss Davis Shade of Gray: shooting a man trying to rob Miss Davis
