Is man good or evil?

Good and evil are human concepts. Therefore man is whatever he wants to be. You know this is true because what has been considered good and what has been considered evil as changed over time and as the situation dictated. Convert or kill savages to Christianity once God's work, now considered evil. Burning witches once considered good, now considered evil. If man has no ability to judge good from evil, he has no business labeling anything as either good or evil.

 

You make a very good point, Moen. It is odd how things that were once good can turn into something evil.

 

Does it ever make you wonder about what is considered good today that may be considered evil down the road?

 

After you made that statement, it really does. But off hand I can not think of any, I guess because now I think they are all good!

 

How about the persecution of gays?

 

You are always Right.

However, you are still living the Illusion so until you jack-out, you won't understand.

Ribbit

 

What is good? What is evil? You can't really answer the original question until you can define these concepts.

 

What is this suppose to mean?

 

One person's view of "good" is inevitably going to be another person's "evil", etc. Take America's view of radical Islam as an example, I'd say we view it as evil, while the opposite is true to them. Since I'm with America on this, I have that bias ...but from my perspective... I'd have to say more good than not. My opinion would be that we, as societies, could not exist for long if evil ruled our hearts more than good. That said, there will always be debate over who's idea of good is correct.

 

Sam Harris argues in The Moral Landscape that there are objective absolutes of "good" and "evil" that transcend any cultural context. I haven't read the book yet, but I think I am leaning towards agreeing with that premise. The sticking point for me is that he doesn't really provide any concrete criteria for determining what is "good" and what is "evil" (at least from what I have heard - I'll have to read the book before passing that judgement I guess!)

 

Yeah, that's the big question really. if you read it, reply to thread again, or send me a message, I'd be interested in what's there.