Questions tagged [good-and-evil]
The good-and-evil tag has no usage guidance.
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Why "Goodness is from the whole cause; evil is from any defect."?
Where does this aphorism originate? Why is it true?
Goodness is from the whole cause; evil is from any defect.
Bonum est ex integra causa, malum ex quocumque defectu.
I've seen some sources say ...
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Without good and evil, are we left with mediocrity only?
If there is no good or evil, then we could have done better with the climate crisis, we maybe could have stopped the world being burnt, but it doesn't matter, it's just that money was more important. ...
user67675
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Was Nietzsche more compassionate than the Buddha's teaching?
I was chatting to a devout Buddhist about how difficult I am finding it to want to transfer merit to people that do evil acts. They replied that merit is just not something you can even do evil with, ...
user67675
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Can we compare the skill or intelligence necessary to do an intrinsic good vs evil?
Can we compare the skill or intelligence necessary to do an intrinsic good vs evil? I was just thinking whether e.g. a skilled murderer can be compared with the skill of being a good mother. There ...
user67675
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Does saying "a morally good singer is a morally good person" undermine Geach's attempt to undermine Moore?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Peter Geach used the infelicity of statements like, "A good singer is thusly a good person," to try to show that G. E. Moore's sense of the word "good" ...
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What is 'an Ontological Evil'?
In various discussions touching upon topics between geopolitics, ethics, and general philosophy, I have seen the term used, in phrases such as 'please do not believe that members of [faction that both ...
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Moral arguments against dystheism (in the spirit of James Rachels)
Here's my almost-twenty-years-old memory of Rachels' argument (I read it in an introduction-to-ethics class at a community college):
If God existed, there would be a being more important, morally, ...
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Does choice exist?
I've been thinking about a few legal quotes that have initiated my investigation into whether or not choice actually exists:
A "universal and persistent" foundation stone in our system of ...
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What is wrong with not preventing an injustice when preventing it would take very little effort?
Suppose B is about to do something unjust to C and A is in a position to actively prevent B from doing this with almost no effort yet A refrains from preventing B from doing what he intends to do, ...
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Kant and "the causes of living"
Once upon a time, I was thinking about the argument for the justification of mass civilian killing that is read off a sense of collective responsibility in "evil nations," and wondered:
If ...
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I am struggling to believe there is anything good in humanity: can you help?
I feel neither like a sinner nor sinned against, but I am struggling to see any good in anyone or myself. I am reminded for the 100,000th time of "mankind is a bridge", and that's what we ...
user66760
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In moral-psychology terms, is it in vain, if not downright counterproductive, to compare inner moral issues to combat, esp. as per Kantian ethics?
Note: this question concerns the reason I started posting on this SE years ago, and has to do with my obsession with universal sets, anti-terms (antisets of late), the morality of punishment and ...
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Malum in se, Malum prohibitum - Bonum in se, Bonum?
Malum in se = Something that is evil in and of itself
Malum prohibitum = Something that is not evil in and of itself, but because it is forbidden by law
Then I guess on the opposite side we would have
...
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"I vow that this sentence 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 be true," vs., "I vow that this sentence 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 be true"
To try to "explain" why the liar sentence is "logically dangerous" whereas the Gödel sentence is "logically helpful," I tried out contrasting the differing "effect&...
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What is the "secular concept of evil"?
This chapter asks whether the concept of evil is exclusively religious
or supernaturally loaded, and what it means to say that evil exists.
Some atheists refuse to use the word “evil” because of what ...
user64211
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In the Doctrine of Virtue, does Kant accidentally encode a solution to the redemption problem from his theory of radical evil?
The set-up. Having identified original sin as an inversion of our maxims vs. their intended order of priority, Kant goes on to note that the nature of radical evil makes it empirically impossible to ...
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Would tragedy exist if there was no evil but only good?
I watched Jordan Peterson's video about tragedy vs evil. It's been some time since but I thought about it a lot and now come to some questions that confuse me tremendously. I have the idea that ...
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Evil in Utopia?
Here I am using 'evil' less in the religious sense (for I assume that for many religions, evil is inseparable from an Earthly realm, whether it be utopian or not), than in the sense of something like '...
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Which philosophers, if any, have claimed that a limited amount of evil is possible? [closed]
In Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves, there is a footnote somewhere that quotes an unidentified source as saying something like, "The Messiah will not come until the Tears of Esau have ceased ...
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Does the existence of evil support an obligation toward good, kindness etc
Most people, maybe not the happiest of egoists, seem to agree that evil exists, that some things are wrong. Does that fact alone suggest that less than evil acts should also be prohibited, that we ...
user59394
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Is evil neccessary to society?
Despite attempts to improve the world around us, evil continues to exist. What may come off as incredulous to someone wants to do no harm, may be reasonable to the people doing immoral actions.
Take ...
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Has a concept of good been defined separate from an anthropogenic perspective?
I am looking for a concept or word which may have been contrived that frames the attribute of “goodness” outside of any anthropogenic consideration. It would form the basis for measuring if an event “...
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Does he or doesn't he? (Plato and the Form of Evil)
Some of my favorite books are the Thomas Covenant novels of Stephen R. Donaldson. For some reason, for a long time I thought the entities and forces in the "other world" of the story were ...
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How rational "God permitting the killing of children as a greater good " defense"?
According to the Quran 18:65–82, Moses meets a man(called the Servant of God)
Moses asks for permission to accompany the Servant of God so Moses can learn "right knowledge of what he hasbeen ...
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Is it possible to argue that the world is good from a theists perspective?
In all Abrahamic religions it is taught that everything that God does is for the good. Is it philosophically possible to argue that our universe is good without arguing from the perspective of a ...
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Does Nietzsche answer what "the good" actually is?
Friedrich Nietzsche gives examples of different stuff people thought "the good" might be, and refers to the idea of slave and noble morality, but he doesn't seem to answer what "good&...
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Do belief systems drive people to commit atrocities, or do people use belief systems as an excuse to commit atrocities?
Think of a random event of mass violence in history. If the perpetrators subscribed to a different religious or political belief system, would they have not committed it, because they had different ...
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Is killing an suffering ant better than to leave her suffering? [closed]
In the morning, my mother accidentally stepped on an ant. Usually, the ant would die instantly, but this time it was suffering for a minute or so. I noticed and asked my mom to kill it so that it didn'...
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Immorality, evil and badness without agency? Can inanimate objects be innately bad?
Proponents of relativism would argue it's easy to see that it is possible to take an inanimate object that someone in one system of belief considers not harmful, and yet find someone who believes such ...
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Is killing a crime reporter good as seen from the criminal commiting the murder?
Many people, including myself, shed a tear yesterday (and now again!) after the news came through that a here famous crime reporter died. Peter R. de Vries was (is!) a beloved man who helped people ...
user53288
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Why thank God for good things, but not blame God for bad things?
Why should one thank God for good things but not blame God for bad things? Why is it common for theists to do so? Rationally speaking, it seems one should both thank and blame, or do neither; this is ...
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Is there a name for a philosophy that seeks to increase human suffering?
The vast, vast majority of ethic systems seek the minimization of human suffering as a good, considering it ethical or righteous in some way. Even anti-natalists believe this after a fashion, ...
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Source of Cicero quote on good/evil?
Inability to tell good from evil is the greatest worry of man's life.
This quote is often attributed to Cicero. Unfortunately, I'm struggling to find much on Google beyond various "inspirational ...
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How do we explain the brain's ability of thinking about non-materialistic concepts? [closed]
Question edited to avoid distraction
If a physical event from a materialistic point of view cannot be good or evil, and the brain is just made of matter, does this mean the concept of good/evil came/...
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Evil/good understood as selfish/cooperative
If we take a narrow view on good and evil, for practical applications (e.g. criminology, law), would it be correct to change the terms of "good" and "evil" with the supposedly more ...
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How would Kierkegaard answer the problem of evil?
Will he consider evil as part of a greater good?
Or is it something beyond our reason?
What answer would be most consistent with his beliefs?
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Is there a philosophical framework for deciding on exposing humanity changing technology?
Let us assume, there is an inventor who thinks he/she is possess a humanity altering technology. For example, an artificial intelligence. He/she is also concerned, with possible adverse effects, his/...
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Would an all-powerful God still be all-powerful if they can never do evil?
God is perfectly good, and so never does any evil. God is also all-powerful, so God can do anything that is logically possible.
But, it's logically possible for there to be a bad world (a world with ...
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Is a good being, also just?
Question: Does a good being, also have to be just/fair?
Side Question: What philosophers/resources would be recommended to research such an idea?
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Can any Christian action truly be morally good?
If someone does a morally good action because they fear God, which is a selfish motive, surely this means it is not a morally selfless action.
In the same way, if any morally good action is not ...
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What should you do in this situation?
You've been on a cruise for two days when there's an accident that forces everyone on board to abandon ship. During the evacuation, one of the boats is damaged, leaving it with a hole that fills it ...
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Does God still know what He has forgotten?
The following is from the Christian text Hebrews 10:15-17: [my emphasis]
15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:
16 “This is the covenant I will make with them
...
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What does it mean for something to be "evil"?
Is evil a perception or is it something that is objective?
Here's my line of thought on it: "If evil were a perception then the law would be moot to some extent. However, if evil were objective then ...
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What does Beyond Good and Evil aphorism 4 mean?
It ends:
recognise untruth as a condition of life: that, to be sure, means
to resist customary value-sentiments in a dangerous fashion; and a
philosophy which ventures to do so places itself, ...
user35983
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Has any philosopher claimed that reality is a simulation, and the evil genius wants us to stay alive, in order to explain what seems like a miracle? [closed]
Has any philosopher claimed that reality is a simulation, and the evil genius wants us to stay alive, in order for that philosopher to explain what seems like a miracle?
Would anyone ever admit to ...
user35983
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Is evil a necessity?
I do acknowledge the fact that differentiating between good and bad is a next to impossible task due to lack of clarity in their definitions and their relative meanings.
It just bothers me that the ...
user34316
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Is it ethical to try to convince someone of something without explicitly letting them know what that is?
Is it ethical or virtuous to try to convince someone of something without telling them explicitly what that is? For example, is it ethical to try to convince someone that an art work by Picasso is ...
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Did Heidegger talk about malice at all?
Did Heidegger talk about malice at all?
I agree and find interesting if not useful most of Nietzsche's aphorisms but felt that his analysis of malice was just weak, and obviously so. However, I liked ...
user35584
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Ethics vs manipulation: Is it ethical to manipulate and is ethics a form of manipulation?
Are there ethical frameworks in which manipulation is acceptable? Knowing that we are being raised and conditioned to accept an ethical framework since early childhood is it fair to say that all ...
user22051
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Trying to Understand Quote by Nietzsche
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a
monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also
into you." - Nietzsche (Beyond Good and Evil: ...
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