{"id":95646,"date":"2023-03-14T14:38:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-14T18:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=95646"},"modified":"2023-03-15T15:26:42","modified_gmt":"2023-03-15T19:26:42","slug":"good-versus-evil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/good-versus-evil\/","title":{"rendered":"The Good Versus Evil Debate: Exploring Both Sides"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is good versus evil? Is morality relative or fixed?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good and evil are common topics found in religion, ethics, psychology, philosophy, and more. To many, good and evil define what is right and wrong in the world. But it can be hard to determine what exactly tips the scale of morality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ll explore the good versus evil debate below by examining their definitions and how someone becomes good or evil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Morality Debates Throughout History<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The question of good versus evil and where morality comes from has plagued philosophers for centuries. One of the most common theories is that morality is innate. However, the truth is more complex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Righteous Mind<\/em><\/a> by Jonathan Haidt says that morality is culture-dependent. For example, Westerners are unique in their prioritization of individual rights over the common good. <\/strong>The individualistic<\/em> <\/strong>society, in which Westerners live now, is a product of the relatively recent Enlightenment. In individualistic societies, the role of society is to serve the individual. However, most societies subordinate the needs of the individual to the needs of the group\u2014they are sociocentric<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Individualistic and sociocentric societies make different moral judgments. For example, in a sociocentric society, it might be morally wrong to move away from your family to pursue a promotion, whereas this is expected in an individualistic society. This shows that, contrary to what many people think, morality isn\u2019t innate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friedrich Nietzsche on Moral Relativism<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche seems to agree that morality is a relative concept. According to his book Thus Spoke Zarathustra<\/em><\/a>, as a unique individual, what\u2019s good for someone else may not be good for you and vice versa.<\/strong> The main character, prophet Zarathustra, denounces any objective distinction between good versus evil as a concept that humans invented to control others, usually in ways that promote conformity and thereby hinder progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, suppose someone is fascinated with stealing. If she cultivates this passion and becomes an expert thief, her children might become even better thieves because of what they learn from her and inherit genetically. So stealing would become an increasingly refined trait for natural selection<\/a> to either favor or weed out. But if she suppresses her inclination to steal for fear of criminal punishment, that won\u2019t happen, and natural selection will be less effective because the population will be more uniform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zarathustra doesn\u2019t teach that you can arbitrarily decide<\/em> what\u2019s right and wrong for you, as some proponents of moral relativism do. Instead, he teaches that you should identify and cultivate your personal virtues: your innate strengths and passions<\/strong>. Pursuing these is good\u2014even if other people try to label your passions as vices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Is Evil?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In The Lucifer Effect<\/em><\/a>, Philip Zimbardo defines evil as any intentional harm done to innocent people. Most people assume that if someone does something truly evil\u2014on the level of murder, torture, or rape\u2014there must be something uniquely twisted about them. They\u2019re an \u201cevil person,\u201d and it would be difficult or impossible to rehabilitate them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zimbardo offers an opposing theory: He argues that any one of us could commit the worst evil imaginable if we found ourselves in the wrong situation<\/strong>. (We\u2019ll call this the \u201ctheory of circumstantial morals\u201d because it implies that each individual\u2019s moral compass can change rapidly in response to new circumstances.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, Zimbardo argues that evildoers are ordinary people who find themselves in situations that cause them to disengage their normal sense of morality. Interviews have confirmed that many people who do great evil\u2014terrorists, torturers, and those who facilitate genocide\u2014are otherwise psychologically healthy and rational. They\u2019re just like any of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Happiness Hypothesis<\/em><\/a> by Jonathan Haidt dives further into the theory that evildoers are psychologically rational by proclaiming they feel justified to commit evil acts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 1990s, social psychologist Roy Baumeister<\/a> identified what he called the myth of pure evil\u2014the idea that people who commit heinous acts do so out of pure cruelty and a desire to hurt.<\/strong> In his study of both perpetrators and victims of cruelty, Baumeister found that this was rarely the case. Most perpetrators were responding to what they perceived as some injustice done against them<\/em>. In their minds, they were the victims<\/em>, not the perpetrators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baumeister found that there was actually far more nuance and complication surrounding even the most appalling crimes. Murders, for example, were often the result of an escalating tit-for-tat cycle of aggression and counter-aggression between the perpetrator and the ultimate victim. Often the murderer could have just as easily ended up as the victim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Believing that one\u2019s opponents are pure evil is how perpetrators rationalize extreme acts of violence against their victims.<\/strong> Idealism is a major driver of this, as anything <\/em>can be justified to defeat those who stand in the way of one\u2019s utopian vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Do People Become \u201cEvil\u201d?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If Zimbardo\u2019s theory of circumstantial morals in The Lucifer Effect<\/em><\/a> is true and the wrong situation can turn anyone evil, then what circumstances determine whether we do good or evil? These are the three main situational variables that can transform any upstanding citizen into an evildoer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Identity cues<\/a><\/em><\/strong> can cause a drastic shift in morals. Zimbardo explains that identity cues are aspects of the environment we draw on when shaping our self-image and determining how to act. These can include specific locations, clothing and other props, and the expectations of others. In extreme cases, if we\u2019re ensnared in enough environmental cues placing us in a given role, these roles can take hold of our emotions and influence us to do things we never would have rationally agreed to do.<\/li>
  2. Social pressures<\/em><\/strong> influence us to act immorally. When the people around us want us to do something evil, it becomes significantly more difficult for us to resist. These social pressures come in two main forms that often overlap: group pressure and authoritative pressure.<\/li>
  3. Awareness of individuality<\/em><\/strong> is the final morality-shifting circumstantial variable. Zimbardo explains that people disengage their sense of morality when they lose the sense that they and the people they are mistreating are unique individuals. This lack of awareness comes in two forms: anonymity and dehumanization.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    What Is Good?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    In Nicomachean Ethics<\/em><\/a>, Aristotle creates his own definition of goodness to add to the good versus evil discussion. He claims people are morally virtuous when they habitually do virtuous actions for virtuous reasons. <\/strong>Both<\/em> of these components are essential to virtue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    People aren\u2019t born naturally virtuous, so it’s something they have to learn\u2014and people learn through repeated action. It makes no sense to call someone virtuous if they don\u2019t consistently do virtuous things, just as it makes no sense to call someone a great chef just because they occasionally make toast. In addition, Aristotle argues that there aren\u2019t simple, universal rules someone can follow to be virtuous. Instead, a virtuous person must determine what is appropriate for each individual situation and then do it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For example, Frank is morally virtuous. Growing up, his parents taught him to help those who can\u2019t help themselves\u2014a tenet that Frank has always lived by. One day, Frank sees a child who\u2019s trapped at the bottom of a well. He immediately grabs a nearby rope and helps the child up, then gets the child home. Frank isn\u2019t morally virtuous just because he saved the child, though (a single virtuous act)\u2014he\u2019s morally virtuous because he always<\/em> helps those in need (he habitually acts virtuously). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How to Be Good<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    To be virtuous, a person must do virtuous actions for the right reasons.<\/strong> People learn to be virtuous through habit\u2014and they won\u2019t learn or create habits from accidentally or unintentionally doing virtuous things. Therefore, virtuous acts are intentional, voluntary, and done for virtue itself rather than some other benefit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For example, morally virtuous Frank helps an old woman cross the street because it\u2019s the right thing to do\u2014not because she\u2019ll give him money for it, or because it\u2019ll make him look good in front of his friends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    People can also become good through habit. Becoming morally virtuous involves three main components: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. Maintaining a mean between two vices<\/strong><\/li>
    2. Experiencing pleasure and pain<\/strong><\/li>
    3. Receiving moral education<\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Virtue as a Mean Between Two Vices<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

      People become virtuous by developing specific virtues through habitual action\u2014a person becomes courageous by doing courageous things, for example. However, Aristotle suggests that these virtues can only exist as a happy medium, or \u201cmean.\u201d<\/strong> An overdeveloped or underdeveloped quality isn\u2019t virtuous at all, but rather a vice. For example, someone who has overdeveloped courage is reckless, while someone with underdeveloped courage is cowardly. Therefore, becoming virtuous requires proper development of individual virtues, practicing them in the right amount so they aren\u2019t overdeveloped or underdeveloped. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Pleasure and Pain<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

      Becoming virtuous also involves \u201ctraining\u201d a person to develop a clear sense of what\u2019s emotionally pleasant or painful\u2014what they like and dislike. This is because moral virtues deal exclusively with matters of pleasure and pain. These emotions are the lens through which people understand actions and their consequences: For example, random acts of violence are immoral because they cause pain for no reason. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      To become morally virtuous, a person must learn to take pleasure in virtuous things and to feel pain at vice or wrongdoing. This process aligns the rational and emotional parts of themselves: The rational part knows virtuous things are good, and the emotional part enjoys and desires virtuous things because it\u2019s been conditioned to take pleasure in them. Therefore, a morally virtuous person doesn\u2019t do virtuous things because of unemotional deliberation\u2014they do virtuous things because it feels good and because they hate what\u2019s immoral.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      For example, morally virtuous Frank learns that his landlord is scamming his neighbor Linda. Rationally, he knows that scamming is immoral and that stopping his landlord is the morally virtuous thing to do. Emotionally, he\u2019s mad that the landlord is scamming Linda and desires a just outcome. Frank\u2019s rational response tells him what<\/em> he should do, and his emotional response inspires him to do it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Moral Education<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

      Aristotle suggests that to develop the necessary habits and \u201ctraining\u201d for virtue, a person needs education from a virtuous teacher starting from childhood. This education begins with imitation: Instead of asking, \u201cWhat is the virtuous thing to do in this situation?\u201d a student asks, \u201cWhat would my teacher do in this situation?\u201d A teacher will also recognize the proper \u201cmean\u201d unique to their student: For example, a brave but impulsive student needs to spend more time on moderate actions than courageous actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Final Words<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      The good versus evil conversation has been discussed for centuries, and likely we\u2019ll continue to discuss it for more years to come. Everyone has their own definitions of good and evil. But you have to decide your own definitions to determine what type of person you\u2019ll be in this world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Did we miss anything important to add to our good versus evil breakdown? Let us know in the comments below!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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