The nature of evil

[Thomas]

When humans stopped killing out of need and started killing out of fear and revenge...that's when they forcefully went off nature.

Nope, it was in their nature to do that.

Man evolved as he did.

What evolution shows is that such development is not universally linear and progressive. There are evolutionary dead-ends, blind alleys, backward-steps, mistakes, mishaps ...

It may well be that man is an evolutionary cock-up, and it may well be the case that nature will go 'whoops' and terminate the species, or we might terminate ourselves ... or we might stumble blindly along into the future as we always have done ... or an asteroid might drift into our solar system and terminate the planet ... but whatever, the fact is that man is, as he is, at his best and at his worst, a product of nature. To say he's not is to apply a moral value to nature which is displaced as nature is amoral.

 

[oroborousDragon]

Nope, it was in their nature to do that.

Man evolved as he did.

What evolution shows is that such development is not universally linear and progressive. There are evolutionary dead-ends, blind alleys, backward-steps, mistakes, mishaps ...

It may well be that man is an evolutionary cock-up, and it may well be the case that nature will go 'whoops' and terminate the species, or we might terminate ourselves ... or we might stumble blindly along into the future as we always have done ... or an asteroid might drift into our solar system and terminate the planet ... but whatever, the fact is that man is, as he is, at his best and at his worst, a product of nature. To say he's not is to apply a moral value to nature which is displaced as nature is amoral.

You do know women exist too...To have a faith which one says "god just poofed humans here", why would you use evolution in your argument. Humans are the ones that are "smart" right? The ones that have "morals" yet to slaughter animals for daring to get "too close" to the ever expanding human lands, you think they have maps of human territory. Predators especially go on scent, something humans don't use. Perhaps if you used a scent of human pee to mark an area then they won't come...

 

[Thomas]

You do know women exist too...

Yes. I was using the collective.

To have a faith which one says "god just poofed humans here", why would you use evolution in your argument.

That's not what my faith says ... some fundamentalists do, but then, you meet fundies everywhere ...

Humans are the ones that are "smart" right?

Can be smart. Can be stupid. It's all within the possibilities of nature.

The ones that ...

OK.

Two things.

One: You realise you are human, right?

Two: You're using the oft-used strategem, that when one point is knocked down, rather than learn from that, or tackle the issue, you simply go on and reiterate the same point another way, as if saying the same thing over and over again makes it true ...

It doesn't.

Humans can be good / evil, selfish / altruistic, brave / cowardly, tall / short, fat / thin, clever / stupid, and so on

But that is all within the nature of what it is to be human ... and nothing you're saying changes or challenges that.

 

[oroborousDragon]

Yes. I was using the collective.


That's not what my faith says ... some fundamentalists do, but then, you meet fundies everywhere ...


Can be smart. Can be stupid. It's all within the possibilities of nature.


OK.

Two things.

One: You realise you are human, right?

Two: You're using the oft-used strategem, that when one point is knocked down, rather than learn from that, or tackle the issue, you simply go on and reiterate the same point another way, as if saying the same thing over and over again makes it true ...

It doesn't.

Humans can be good / evil, selfish / altruistic, brave / cowardly, tall / short, fat / thin, clever / stupid, and so on

But that is all within the nature of what it is to be human ... and nothing you're saying changes or challenges that.

The collective? Of man? All male creatures? I don't get it. You do know one can't say one is stupid or smart based on human bias tests. For example wolves aren't stupid, they know how to live, lizards aren't stupid, they're ninjas, deer aren't stupid, they just might not be used to cars...

I'm not human you know, i'm a dragon, a dragon of the sub species wyvern, in spirit at least...While I admit I am in this cursed body, it's not who I am...and being that I speak strictly through my spirit (which for me is really really really hard not to). Yes humans can follow the same "as above so below" qualities as nature, but unlike nature humans don't like the land they live on...so they ruin it. So foolish, one should say "human nature" not just nature as a whole, furthermore I think your version of brave needs a little editing. To humans people say they're so "brave" when they kill. The hunters in Africa say they're brave because they killed a lion, those who slayed dragons said they were brave for killing dragons...but were they really? Killing (for sport) is a cowards way out, sure it may be a fix, but it's the least noble fix. If a species is acting up, find out why. For example dragons have been acting up to human towns because their young were killed. A coward would just kill the dragon, someone brave would stand up to the dragon and try to understand. It takes more guts to confront your fear rather than kill it

 

[A Cup Of Tea]

I think you need to pick a topic and order your thoughts a little, you're all over the place and getting nowhere.

 

[Arif Ghamiq]

In Quran it says that Allah "created Zulumat (Darkness) and Nur (Light)" - 6:1

Zulumat comes from the root ZLM "zalama" meaning "to be dark", "to oppress", "to tyrannize", "to do wrong and/or evil" and it is often used as a metaphor for ignorance.

I've pondered over this verse a lot and read many of its commentaries, and it seems to indicate that darkness, oppression, tyranny, wrongdoing are fundamental aspects of existence - as is Nur (Light), which is often used to represent knowledge, enlightenment, guidance & righteousness.

The Quran also mentions the "evil of created things" -113:2