Clearly, his point-of-view was Christian. Like the other few non-Christian responders to this, I also found the logic of "evil is a lack of goodness like cold is a lack of heat" quite wanting.
Intention is being ignored in his argument and it seems to me that this is typically Christian as well. Freud's theories, despite coming from a Jew who should have known better, reflected this same notion of humans as inherently evil. As a Jew by birth and a Jewddhist by inner guidance, I find that evil requires intentional behaviors. Yes, there is evil-by-omission, a sort of passivity or non-action that decreases "good" but the BIG EVIL that he seems to mean requires effort. If we continue with Hitler as an example, he certainly had to put much effort and resources into all that was required to make The Final Solution at all workable, and in the end he still failed.
Both good and bad [behaviors] are choices, choices of action or inaction depending upon the specific circumstances, at least as I see it. Having been raised without the concept of original sin and the inherent badness/evil of humans has been one of the greatest gifts of my life. I generally look at people behaving 'badly' and without judgment feel that inaction is what is causing them the most harm or having them creating a detriment to their surroundings. [Yes, I realize that I've had quite a bit of what others might deem "evil" in my life. I think the inaction, the choice to remain insane and not deal with the burden of the insanity and the social ramifications, is the prevalent force at work with The Worm. I'm not saying that I forgive and forget the "evil" actions that were caused by the insanity but I am much more troubled by the choice to remain the same and not deal with the obvious problems than by the fact that problems were present. Growing up outside the concept of EVIL has given me a perspective that is at odds with American [read: Christian] society. How unusual for me!]]
Overall, I think "evil" is a religious monotheistic [mostly Christian and post- Christian] experience and construct. It is certainly not a natural nor measurable on the way temperature is.
My question: Why the need to define a subjective term in an objective manner? Is this foundation for judgmentality to become synonymous with something that is objectively measurable? My personal experience is that that is the nature of American Protestantism. I'm highly uncomfortable with it.
Concepts of Neutrality and Intention are missing
Intention is being ignored in his argument and it seems to me that this is typically Christian as well. Freud's theories, despite coming from a Jew who should have known better, reflected this same notion of humans as inherently evil. As a Jew by birth and a Jewddhist by inner guidance, I find that evil requires intentional behaviors. Yes, there is evil-by-omission, a sort of passivity or non-action that decreases "good" but the BIG EVIL that he seems to mean requires effort. If we continue with Hitler as an example, he certainly had to put much effort and resources into all that was required to make The Final Solution at all workable, and in the end he still failed.
Both good and bad [behaviors] are choices, choices of action or inaction depending upon the specific circumstances, at least as I see it. Having been raised without the concept of original sin and the inherent badness/evil of humans has been one of the greatest gifts of my life. I generally look at people behaving 'badly' and without judgment feel that inaction is what is causing them the most harm or having them creating a detriment to their surroundings.
[Yes, I realize that I've had quite a bit of what others might deem "evil" in my life. I think the inaction, the choice to remain insane and not deal with the burden of the insanity and the social ramifications, is the prevalent force at work with The Worm. I'm not saying that I forgive and forget the "evil" actions that were caused by the insanity but I am much more troubled by the choice to remain the same and not deal with the obvious problems than by the fact that problems were present.
Growing up outside the concept of EVIL has given me a perspective that is at odds with American [read: Christian] society. How unusual for me!]]
Overall, I think "evil" is a
religiousmonotheistic [mostly Christian and post- Christian] experience and construct. It is certainly not a natural nor measurable on the way temperature is.My question: Why the need to define a subjective term in an objective manner? Is this foundation for judgmentality to become synonymous with something that is objectively measurable? My personal experience is that that is the nature of American Protestantism. I'm highly uncomfortable with it.