Pride is at the root of all evil

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Pride is an emotional attachment to a quality or ability in possession.

What kinds of qualities or abilities? Could you do a list? That would help me get a sense of how broadly or narrowly you are using this. For serious.

 

[WALMART]

What kinds of qualities or abilities? Could you do a list? That would help me get a sense of how broadly or narrowly you are using this. For serious.

Hmmmmmm.

Qualities are simple. White, black, gay, straight, tall, short, rich, poor. I'm not convinced there is any reason to believe anyone has anything to do with their circumstance upon birth, so that is particularly something to feel no pride over.

Abilities are maybe where it gets more in depth, and difficult to reason, because for the most part an ability does require a fair deal of effort to foster. But there are still natural proclivities undoubtedly at play.

I've ran out of mental energy. I was gonna talk about professional competitors, Justin Bieber, cult leaders, blah blah blah.

 

[Rasofy]

I think of ego as a broad term to mean something like self importance. So I've thought for awhile that all unethical situations result from one person having an exaggerated sense of self importance

I like how you think.

Freud was wrong about stuff. LOL penis envy and mom-fucking.

Fair.

Actually, I really like the idea of an ego, id, and superego. Just because a physical correlation hasn't been discovered yet doesn't mean it's necessarily invalid.

Hipsters gonna hate, but it's still a fairly useful model.

 

[PeaceBaby]

I heard someone say this yesterday? Do you agree? Not agree? Why?

(I'm not entirely certain I understand or agree with it which is why I'm posting this)

Pride is considered the most serious of the seven deadly sins, and is believed to be the root of the rest. Extrapolating, one could conclude therefore that pride is indeed at the root of all evil. Could be the origin of this person's statement?

 

[highlander]

Pride is considered the most serious of the seven deadly sins, and is believed to be the root of the rest. Extrapolating, one could conclude therefore that pride is indeed at the root of all evil. Could be the origin of this person's statement?

Those being
1. Lust
2. Gluttony
3. Greed
4. Sloth
5. Wrath
6. Envy
7. Pride

Makes sense.

 

[Typh0n]

Pride is considered the most serious of the seven deadly sins, and is believed to be the root of the rest. Extrapolating, one could conclude therefore that pride is indeed at the root of all evil. Could be the origin of this person's statement?

I was gonna say.

Seems pride is the root of all evil from the perspective of Christian morality, at least.

Now tis all comes down to whether or not you agree with Christian morals or not, personally I can see something to it, at least Jesus's morals if you can even call them that but I dont think it is exclusive or the only valid ethical outlook on things.

 

[Amargith]

I could really dig into this, but in short, this statement feels slightly off to me. I dig the paradoxical nature of pride being a source of great good and great evil, so that's not my issue. Pride just isn't enough of a fundamental drive, I think. Pride is just a reward mechanism and motivator to acquire status and resources. It's the drive for status and resources, left unchecked, that seems to be the true root of evil.

What keeps that drive in check? I'd say empathy. When we feel someone else's pain and motivations, and view them as a fellow human being that shares our struggles and desires, it becomes harder to wrong them. It's been shown that money and power both decrease empathy, which may be why "money is the root of all evil" and "power corrupts".

Ive said it before; listen to the dog, he knows.

 

[danseen]

IMO, evil doesn't exist. It's just something told to children.

 

[Udog]

No one is the villain of their own story.

 

[Rasofy]

IMO, evil doesn't exist. It's just something told to children.

 

[danseen]

er.. this is what most in modern Western society think.

 

[CheshireCat]

"Evil infact, constitutes a continuum, one kinds opens the door to another irregardless of its qualitative truth or the ideological slogans cloaking it."

 

[danseen]

Evil doesn't exist. Why is that taxing to understand?

 

[rav3n]

Good and evil are renamed same and others tribal categories. Within the good box, there's a list of social behaviours that's perceived as positive because it aligns with our tribe hence our people. Within the evil box, there's a list of social behaviours that's perceived as negative because it doesn't align with our tribe, hence they're one of the others who are perceived as unsafe. Hyperbolic dichotomy awash with mythological significance.

So with the above in mind, evil = individuality where personal pride is at the root of individuality.

 

[Society]

nah.

it's not the origin of our capacity and willingness to cause harm, but it can certainly be what stands in the way of stopping to cause it.

(unless by evil you mean extensive use of dark color themes, archaic symbolism, and sardonic laugh in eastern european accents...

n which case the answer is "my ancestors"

 

[Concur_Withall]

This seems a paradoxical statement to me, but that's based on my own interpretations of pride and evil.

Pride, as something which pursues life.

Evil, as something which turns away from life.

 

[Forever_Jung]

The sexual impulse may drive two men into competition if they both want the same girl. But that is only by accident; they might just as likely have wanted two different girls. But a proud man will take your girl from you, not because he wants her, but just to prove to himself that he is a better man than you. Greed may drive men into competition if there is not enough to go round; but the proud man, even when he has got more than he can possibly want, will try to get still more just to assert his power. Nearly all those evils in the world which people put down to greed or selfishness are really far more the result of Pride.

C.S. Lewis does a pretty good job breaking down the sin of pride in Mere Christianity.

 

[Tellenbach]

I don't think there is a single root to all evil. My first choice would've been "ignorance", but having given it some more thought, there are too many examples of evil committed by relatively smart, knowledgeable men (eg. the Unabomber). My second choice would've been "aggression" since I believe most violent acts are committed by the male of our species but then there are plenty of non-violent acts that are evil as well.

My third and final choice comes from having started to read Elisabeth Kubler-Ross' "The Wheel of Life'. She says that learning to love unconditionally is the greatest lesson to be learned on earth. I tend to agree with her and I believe most evil is the result of people having failed to learn that lesson.

 

[draon9]

I do not believe that big pride is the root of all evil, the question some of you guys should ask yourself and those of who have bog egos at times. Why do I have so much pride and why am I blinded by it. It is simple, it is our fear. The fear of feeling inferior to anybody, the fear that someone is hunting us and so on. Think of the history of slavery in America, thr killing of black civil rights leaders and John F. Kennedy. The obvious reason that white supremacist did this is because of fear and most of them were arrogant. Another example is king Ramsae enslaving the hebrews, that spark fear in ramsae thinking that the hebrews were going to rebel against and that us why he had thise boys killed. Then he acted arrogantly. In both scenarios, it was their fear of something that led them to be prideful or act prideful. In all reality, fear, not pride is the root of all evil.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I think there are two ways pride can be manifested - good and bad.

Hubris- bad

I would agree with this. Someone with a lot of pride, for instance, might be resistant to performing acts that they consider to be dishonorable or harmful. On the other hand, a person with low self-esteem, and very little pride, can be manipulated more easily.