The Existence of Good and Evil
Uploaded by adwilam on Nov 01, 2011
There is no such thing as good or evil, there are only those with power and the will to use it. There are several reasons for this being true, most importantly the fact that cultural differences dictate that there can be no universally accepted set of morals and ethics. By good, we mean something that people consider to be morally or ethically right. By evil we mean the exact opposite of good, i.e. something the people consider to be morally or ethically wrong. When we talk about whether or not there is a good or evil, we mean in a definitive, universally accepted sense.
In different cultures there may be a widely accepted set of morals and ethics by which people are expected to live their lives, but there is no set of morals or ethics accepted by every single person alive. Therefore there can be no such thing as a definitive good or evil as opinions vary from person to person. An example of one group of people living by a set of morals which they think makes them “good” whilst others consider their actions to be “evil” is that of the Nazi regime headed by Adolf Hitler in the 1930’s and 40’s. Hitler and his followers believed that Judaism was a menace to society and the eradication of all Jews would make the world a better place. They felt that what they were doing was indeed “good”. However, it is widely believed that Hitler and the Nazis' actions were some of the most “evil” actions in the history of mankind. This shows us clearly that not all people agree on the same things as being good or evil, but rather opinion differs from person to person. This means that there is no such thing as “good” or “evil”, just different morals and ethics followed by individuals.
One may argue that every human being has a common sense of what is good or bad instilled in them their whole lives. It is this instinctive set of morals and ethics that has ensured humanity has always been consistently filled with society and civilisation based on common ethics and/or morals in the form of laws and rules. It may be argued that if every person had a differing sense of good or evil, it would be impossible for there to be civilised society throughout the world, all through times, dating back to the...