Evil

From New World Encyclopedia


Evil is understood to be of three kinds: 1) moral evil, 2) natural evil, and 3) metaphysical evil. Moral evil is evil human beings volitionally and intentionally originate, and its examples are their cruel, vicious, and unjust thoughts and actions. Natural evil is evil which occurs independently of human thoughts and actions but which causes pain and suffering, and it refers to earthquakes, volcanos, storms, droughts, disease bacilli, etc. "Metaphysical evil," a term coined by Gottfried Leibniz, refers to the finite and limited condition of the created world of time and space, thus being usually understood not to be evil in and by itself.

The monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam usually have a standatd of good and a standard of evil centering on a good God and tend to stress the seriousness of moral evil according to these standards, basically treating other kinds of evil only in the context of moral evil. By contrast, non-monotheistic religions are inclined to pay more attention to natural and metaphysical evil, saying that evil (i.e., natural and metaphysical evil) is ultimately unreal. Today, evil is much discussed in psychology, sociology, business, and politics, and evil in these areas tends to refer to moral evil.

The monotheistic traditions, however, sometimes treat moral evil as something not necessarily negative. There are two ways in which they treat it so: 1)


Etymology

The modern English word 'Evil' (Old English Yfel) and its current living cognates such as the German 'Übel' are widely considered to come from a Proto-Germanic reconstructed form *Ubilaz, comparable to the Hittite huwapp- ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European form *wap- and suffixed zero-grade form *up-elo-. Other later Germanic forms include Middle English evel, ifel, ufel Old Frisian evel (adjective & noun), Old Saxon ubil, Old High German ubil, and Gothic ubils. The root meaning is of obscure origin though shown to be akin to modern English 'over' (OE ofer) and 'up' (OE up, upp) with the basic idea of "transgressing".

The Kinds of Evil

Evil as a Religious Concept

Judaism

Christianity

Islam

Zoroastrianism

Hinduism

Buddhism

Confucianism

Moral Evil in Various Areas of Human Life

Sociopaths

A sociopath is a person with "antisocial" personality disorder. The basic characteristic of a sociopath is a disregard for the rights of others. It is typified by extreme self-serving behavior and a lack of conscience as well as an inability to empathize with others and to restrain him or herself from, or to feel remorse for, harm personally caused to others. Very often the sociopath may look very charming, friendly, and considerate, but these attitudes turn out to be superficial and even deceptice. They are used as a way of pulling and blinding others to the personal sociopatheic agenda behind the surface. Many sociopaths are engaged in alchohol or drug use as a way of heightening their antisocial personality. They want to heighten their antisocial personality because they have a low self-esteem, for which they try to compensate through the use of these substrances.

Some sociologists, psychiatrists and neuroscientists have attempted to construct scientific explanations for the development of antisocial personality disorder. Although any diagnosis of sociopathy is sometimes criticized as being, at the present time, no more scientific than calling a person "evil," nevertheless it seems that sociopathy has something to do with moral evil, as long is its basic characteristic is a disregard for the rights of other people.

Evil in business

In business, evil refers to unfair business practices. The most widely agreed on unfair practices are sweatshops and monopolies, but recently the term "evil" has been applied much more broadly, especially in the technology and intellectual property industries. One of the slogans of Google is "Don't Be Evil," in response to much-criticized technology companies such as Microsoft and AOL, and the tagline of independent music recording company Magnatune is "we are not evil," referring to the alleged evils of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The economist David Korten has argued that industrial corporations, set up as fictive individuals by law, are required to work only according to the criteria of making profits for their shareholders, meaning they function as sociopathic organizations that inherently do evil in damaging the environment, denying labor justice and exploiting the powerless.

The Criterion of Evil

The Virulence of Evil

The Source of Evil

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Cenkner, William. 1998. Evil and the Response of World Religion. Continuum International. ISBN 1557787530
  • Kelly, Joseph F. 2003. The Problem of Evil in the Western Tradition: From the Book of Job to Modern Genetics. Liturgical Press. ISBN 0-8146-5104-6
  • Marc-Alain Ouaknin, Marc-Alain, Levenson, Claude B., Le Gall, Dom Robert, Chebel, Malek, Ouaknin Marc-Alain. 2005. The Great Religions: Essential Questions. Assouline. ISBN 2843236118
  • Smith, Huston. 1997. Good and Evil in the World's Religions. Chautauqua audio cassette program, 97-139. Chautauqua Institution. OCLC 39783291
  • Rosenberg, Shalom. 1989. Good and Evil in Jewish Thought. Tel Aviv: MOD Books. ISBN 9650504486
  • Kushner, Harold S. 2000. When Bad Things Happen to Good People. London: Pan. ISBN 0330268279
  • Shermer, M. 2004. The Science of Good & Evil. New York: Time Books. ISBN 0-8050-7520-8
  • Ferré, Nels F. S. 1971. Evil and the Christian Faith. Essay index reprint series. Books for Libraries Press. ISBN 0836923936
  • McCloskey, H. J. 1974. God and Evil. The Hague: Nijhoff. ISBN 9024716047
  • Wilson, William McF., and Julian N. Hartt. "Farrer's Theodicy." In David Hein and Edward Hugh Henderson (eds), Captured by the Crucified: The Practical Theology of Austin Farrer. New York and London: T & T Clark / Continuum, 2004. ISBN 0-567-02510-1
  • Peterson, Michael L. 1998. God and Evil: An Introduction to the Issues. Boulder, Colo: Westview Press. ISBN 0813328497
  • Rosenberg, Marshall B. 2003. Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life: Create Your Life, Your Relationships, and Your World in Harmony with Your Values. Puddledancer Press ISBN 1892005034
  • Rosenberg, Marshall B. 2005. Speak Peace in a World of Conflict : What You Say Next Will Change Your World. PuddleDancer Press. ISBN 1892005174
  • Ellis, Albert, and Robert Allan Harper. 1975. A New Guide to Rational Living. Prentice-Hall. ISBN 013614909X
  • Wolman, Benjamin B. 1971. The Psychoanalytic Interpretation of History. Basic Books. ISBN 0465065937
  • Plantinga, Alvin. 1997. God, Freedom, and Evil. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company ISBN 0802817319
  • Peck, M. Scott. 1983. People of the Lie: The Hope for Healing Human Evil. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0671454927
  • Oppenheimer, Paul (1996). Evil and the Demonic: A New Theory of Monstrous Behavior. New York: New York University Press. ISBN 0-8147-6193-3. 
  • Nelson, Marie Coleman, and Michael Eigen. 1984. Evil:Self and Culture. Human Sciences Press. ISBN 0898851432

External links


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