What is 'the greatest evil'?

[DiscoBiscuit]

Well... what do you believe it is?

And conversely, what is 'the greatest good'?

I don't know, and don't think anyone really can know.

Besides that... all's fair in love and war.

 

[Mole]

I think the greatest evil is objectifying others, making individuals means to your own ends and not respecting or treating them as sacred and an end in themselves.

I see this behaviour as specifically associated in its worst incarnations with killing hope and causing despair, this is the action of every sadistic bully who I've ever known and what they take the most joy in. It is also the motif force in most predatory and exploitative behaviour, dominating, controlling and manipulating others, objectifying them and dehumanising them, sometimes compelling them to a fatalistic acceptance of whatever their predatory and exploitative imagination can come up with.

The greatest good, I believe, can be worded in a number of ways, to walk the earth and know that God is God, to love others as you love thyself, to love God and love your neighbour, it all means the same thing, which is something which eludes a great many people and always will but is particularly impossible for those who can not assail or transcend their emotive reaction to particular words such as God, and it is all the opposite of the greatest evil.

This is a good response.

 

[Mole]

The greatest evil is genocide.

And the greatest good for the greatest number is the Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th centuries.

 

[Istbkleta]

People without conscience.

Especially if they derive pleasure from causing pain (we meet those people every day).

Most people disappoint me in such situations when they either don't recognize what kind of person they are dealing with or choose to ignore them.

The official term for such people is "jerks".

Unfortunately many get into management and then everybody is too afraid to do anything.


Disclaimer: I am sorry I am avoiding the flame war. I do it on purpose.

 

[CzeCze]

Thread Split

Mod Note:

Um, that force of nature that blew through has blown all the way to graveyard here

Sorry good citizens for the massive derail.

Carry on

 

[dala]

Dont you think that harm and benefice are just other words for evil and good? It seems like semantics to me, the semantics of those afraid of making judgements or being associated with traditional judgement.

'Good' and 'evil' are loaded terms. There's the implication behind them of supernaturailty, a kind of simplified version of how the world works where everything is black and white based on some cosmic force. There's also this strange concept which I reject, that a thing can be 'good' or evil' in and of itself, a kind of circular thought that allows for harmless things to be considered 'evil' and harmful ones to be considered 'good.' For example, consider how many people find marijuana to be either 'good' or 'evil,' despite the plant's utter lack of sentience and objective, measurable methods to measure any harm or benefits that might come from it.

I guess what it is that I really reject is the idea that 'good' and 'evil' can be separated from harm and benefits and still have any objective meaning. From there, in my mind objective meaning really only comes from the harm and benefits, and you might as well just cut out the loaded terms altogether.

 

[Winds of Thor]

The greatest evil: The Love of money

The greatest good: To see people, and meet their needs. Perhaps also, to lay down one's life for one's friend(s).

 

[Eruca]

The greatest evil: my step mother
The greatest good: stuffed crust cheese pizza

 

[Lark]

The greatest evil is genocide.

And the greatest good for the greatest number is the Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Before the enlightenment there was atrocity but there wasnt genocide, modernism and modern technics made genocide possible.

Why does numbers influence the greatest good?

 

[Lark]

'Good' and 'evil' are loaded terms. There's the implication behind them of supernaturailty, a kind of simplified version of how the world works where everything is black and white based on some cosmic force. There's also this strange concept which I reject, that a thing can be 'good' or evil' in and of itself, a kind of circular thought that allows for harmless things to be considered 'evil' and harmful ones to be considered 'good.' For example, consider how many people find marijuana to be either 'good' or 'evil,' despite the plant's utter lack of sentience and objective, measurable methods to measure any harm or benefits that might come from it.

I guess what it is that I really reject is the idea that 'good' and 'evil' can be separated from harm and benefits and still have any objective meaning. From there, in my mind objective meaning really only comes from the harm and benefits, and you might as well just cut out the loaded terms altogether.

That just appears confused and born more of a desire to reject something than make a really reasonable point.

The reality is that there is an ordered cosmos besides mankinds recognition or consideration of it, gravity remains gravity whether it is so called or comprehended by man, it is not an invention of man or imagined by man or subjectively judged by man.

Within that ordered cosmos there are a lot of objective realities, including good and evil.

I believe that God does exist and that this is the supernatural cosmic force you mention, it causes no problem for me, although its possible to know that there is such a thing objectively as right and wrong, good and evil without requiring God's existence to know it is so.

 

[dala]

That just appears confused and born more of a desire to reject something than make a really reasonable point.

The reality is that there is an ordered cosmos besides mankinds recognition or consideration of it, gravity remains gravity whether it is so called or comprehended by man, it is not an invention of man or imagined by man or subjectively judged by man.

Within that ordered cosmos there are a lot of objective realities, including good and evil.

I believe that God does exist and that this is the supernatural cosmic force you mention, it causes no problem for me, although its possible to know that there is such a thing objectively as right and wrong, good and evil without requiring God's existence to know it is so.

I know that I have a tendency to make leaps between thoughts without regard for how I got there. If there is something I said that you find muddled or confusing, I would be happy to clarify. Is there a particular reason that you find what I said unreasonable?

I'm not entirely certain what the rest of your post is trying to get at. Are you saying that you think that good and evil are governed by physical laws like gravity?

 

[Mole]

Before the enlightenment there was atrocity but there wasnt genocide, modernism and modern technics made genocide possible.

Why does numbers influence the greatest good?

Oz is informed by the utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham, in fact I live just down the road from Bentham Street. So the working philosophy of Australia is utilitarianism, and the slogan of utilitarianism is, "The greatest good for the greatest number".

And to a degree, with the early introduction of the welfare State, Australia does aim for the greatest good for the greatest number.

Some claim this is a pedestrian aim, while others point out it avoids utopianism.

Still, it has led to a modern welfare State marked by egalitarianism, mate.

 

[durentu]

greatest evil - ignorance
greatest good - earned pride/self esteem

 

[Mole]

The greatest evil is to remember it is all about me.

And the greatest good is to love and be loved in return.

 

[WALMART]

'Evil' is subjective, 'greatest' even more so.

I'd say man's inherent nature to collect a paycheck for the chance to die.

 

[ilikeitlikethat]

The greatest evil?

Doing nothing, and settleing for something that you know could be better.

- Not having the will to try.

Picture it like this. We're all in a race, no one has started running yet, we're all equal, we're all at the start. Now - What makes a loser a loser and a winner a winner is; the will. Be thankful for what you've got as, a lot of people may not, but you've got to be willing to run to win. If you can't be bothered to run or to try and win then, you're just as good as being a loser.
- I think.

If you want a job, then start applying.
If you want to loose weight, then eat right and excersise.
If you want a g/f or a b/f or to just to get laid or find love, be more confident or, find more people...

Maybe I'm the greatest evil for suggesting this?
Or for my Ego, so big I named it Ego, so deep that there isn't a seabed;
just a blackhole.

 

[Turtledove]

I believe that telemarketer are the boils on the butts of humanity!

 

[ilikeitlikethat]

I believe that telemarketer are the boils on the butts of humanity!

I've done telemarketing or, telesales..

I got tarined 'for all 5 minutes' by the lady who hired me and a telemarketer guy named Muhammad, and the lady who hired me said
'This is Muhammad'
and Muhammad's like
"To get more bites/pitches for sales, I call myself Christopher."
I'm like...
"Alright..."

I had to cold call people selling Kitchens.

 

[Turtledove]

I've done telemarketing or, telesales..

I got tarined 'for all 5 minutes' by the lady who hired me and a telemarketer guy named Muhammad, and the lady who hired me said
'This is Muhammad'
and Muhammad's like
"To get more bites/pitches for sales, I call myself Christopher."
I'm like...
"Alright..."

I had to cold call people selling Kitchens.

You were relieved of doing the job through the use of hemorrhoid creams (or quitting,) I hope.

 

[Reverie]

The greatest good is to realize we are all one. When we see the other is actually ourselves we treat them with dignity and respect.
The greatest evil is to think we are separate. Separation breeds greed, anger and suffering.

“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.”
Buddha quotes (Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, 563-483 B.C.)

In the beginning was the Tao.
All things issue from it;
all things return to it.

To find the origin,
trace back the manifestations.
When you recognize the children
and find the mother,
you will be free of sorrow.

If you close your mind in judgements
and traffic with desires,
your heart will be troubled.
If you keep your mind from judging
and aren't led by the senses,
your heart will find peace.

Seeing into darkness is clarity.
Knowing how to yield is strength.
Use your own light
and return to the source of light.
This is called practicing eternity.

68

The best athlete
wants his opponent at his best.
The best general
enters the mind of his enemy.
The best businessman
serves the communal good.
The best leader
follows the will of the people.

All of the embody
the virtue of non-competition.
Not that they don't love to compete,
but they do it in the spirit of play.
In this they are like children
and in harmony with the Tao.


Tao Te Ching
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/core9/phalsall/texts/taote-v3.html

To be full of things is to be empty of God. To be empty of things is to be full of God.

When you are thwarted, it is your own attitude that is out of order.

You may call God love, you may call God goodness. But the best name for God is compassion.


Meister Eckhart