Universal Evil: Does it Exist?
When you google "definition of evil", you will get about 65 million search results in less than a third of a second. This suggests to us that there are many definitions of evil and that evil exists in many forms. However, is there evil that is universal?
The notion of universal evil is interesting. For evil to be universal, it has to be fundamental not situational, innate not cultural.
Evil comes in many forms. There is not one clear definition of evil, it is a broad term. In an English dictionary, Evil is defined as (Source: www.dictonary.com): morally wrong or bad, immoral, wicked. Therefore, if something opposes morality, it can be considered evil.
But whose morals? And what is moral?
There are …show more content…
Under this school of thought, morality is based on our cultures. Normative Moral relativism explains that because nobody is fundamentally right or wrong, we ought to tolerate the behavior of others even when we disagree about the morality of their actions.
Moral universalism is considered a compromise between Moral absolutism and Moral realism. Moral universalism proposes that there are some universal ethics (intrinsic right or wrong) that apply to “all similarly situated individuals” regardless of culture, race, sex, religion, nationality or any other distinguishing feature at all times. A universal ethic is a moral system that applies universally to all of humanity and therefore transcends culture and personal whim. However, it is not “absolute”. Finally, Amoralism claims that good and evil are meaningless as moral ingredient does not exist in nature. If morality is intrinsic to humanity then amoral human beings either do not exist or are only deficiently human. If morality is extrinsic to humanity, then amoral human beings can both exist and be fully human and may be amoral either by nature or
When you google "definition of evil", you will get about 65 million search results in less than a third of a second. This suggests to us that there are many definitions of evil and that evil exists in many forms. However, is there evil that is universal?
The notion of universal evil is interesting. For evil to be universal, it has to be fundamental not situational, innate not cultural.
Evil comes in many forms. There is not one clear definition of evil, it is a broad term. In an English dictionary, Evil is defined as (Source: www.dictonary.com): morally wrong or bad, immoral, wicked. Therefore, if something opposes morality, it can be considered evil.
But whose morals? And what is moral?
There are …show more content…
Under this school of thought, morality is based on our cultures. Normative Moral relativism explains that because nobody is fundamentally right or wrong, we ought to tolerate the behavior of others even when we disagree about the morality of their actions.
Moral universalism is considered a compromise between Moral absolutism and Moral realism. Moral universalism proposes that there are some universal ethics (intrinsic right or wrong) that apply to “all similarly situated individuals” regardless of culture, race, sex, religion, nationality or any other distinguishing feature at all times. A universal ethic is a moral system that applies universally to all of humanity and therefore transcends culture and personal whim. However, it is not “absolute”. Finally, Amoralism claims that good and evil are meaningless as moral ingredient does not exist in nature. If morality is intrinsic to humanity then amoral human beings either do not exist or are only deficiently human. If morality is extrinsic to humanity, then amoral human beings can both exist and be fully human and may be amoral either by nature or