Is pure evil real or is it just subjective?

[MidgardSerpent]

More animals are killed every year than the amount of people that have ever lived. A quarter of those never make it to consumption in the first place, because they die due to the brutal conditions they live in, or just the collateral damage from mass meat consumption. 6 billion male chicks get thrown in the shredder every year because they can't lag eggs. Millions of sealife die because they're the victim of bycatch, they get caught in the nets even though they're not the targets.

You could make the argument that years from now when we're possibly more enlightened the worst thing we consider we ever did as a species was not even the way we treated our fellow man, but how we devalued animals as a mere consumption product, justifying the systematic torture and snuffing out of sentient life on an unimaginable scale. Maybe aliens are well aware of our existence and they just made it a point to avoid us at any cost.

This probably sounds more stern than I intended, but it's hard to ethically justify eating industrialised meat if you are in a position not to, even though I am still a meat eater myself.

 

[Takes Two To Tango]

Yes but if an action, like eating a pig, was pure evil, it would be evil whether we did it in our age, or we were hunting for sustenance with no other choice, to survive.

That's true.

 

[Takes Two To Tango]

More animals are killed every year than the amount of people that have ever lived. A quarter of those never make it to consumption in the first place, because they die due to the brutal conditions they live in, or just the collateral damage from mass meat consumption. 6 billion male chicks get thrown in the shredder every year because they can't lag eggs. Millions of sealife die because they're the victim of bycatch, they get caught in the nets even though they're not the targets.

You could make the argument that years from now when we're possibly more enlightened the worst thing we ever did as a species was not even the way we treated our fellow man, but how devalued animals as a mere consumption product, justifying the systematic torture and snuffing out of sentient life on an unimaginable scale. Maybe aliens are well aware of our existence and they just made it a point to avoid us at any cost.

This probably sounds more stern than I intended, but it's hard to ethically justify eating industrialised meat if you are in a position not to, even though I am still a meat eater myself.

Very well said, thank you.

 

[Fedorgasm]

Older cultures thought it was cool for a grown man to marry a 12 year old girl, where today that would be considered evil. So some of it is subjective.

So what if someone just enjoys violence? 300 years ago that dude might have been a great soldier. Or interrogator. And people wouldn't consider him evil because he only does these things to the enemy.

 

[Patrick Jane]

Your question implies that subjective things are not real.

 

[BB in Crazy!!!!]

Older cultures thought it was cool for a grown man to marry a 12 year old girl, where today that would be considered evil. So some of it is subjective.

So what if someone just enjoys violence? 300 years ago that dude might have been a great soldier. Or interrogator. And people wouldn't consider him evil because he only does these things to the enemy.

They executed people who committed brutal acts of violence 300 years ago. Basically, serial killers and proper psychopaths who enjoy violence would be evil. Not just people who have violent tendencies, but who enjoy hurting people badly. People who would be considered monstrous by any human society. So a lot less truly evil people in the world. Societies are subjective with what's normal, but usually there is a reason. Even cannibals and the Aztecs who sacrificed thousands had a reason for it and still had a functioning society. Dealing with someone objectively evil they would either be outed as soon as they were found out since they typically do damage directly to their own people, or people would be in terror of them and not deal with them if they have power (which I can't think of any cases where someone truly truly evil had power, even Hitlers motives were to save Germany, misguided and wrong, but he didn't murder people just because he enjoyed doing it)

I think the want is part of it. Not just an urge to do it. But they actually want and enjoy doing what they do.

 

[Gigacardio]

How is it even possible to doubt its existence...

 

[KnightTemplar]

It's subjective. Obviously the vast majority of people would say Hitler was evil but I don't think you can really say it's an objective fact.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

To be clear I am personally of the opinion that Hitler was evil. It's just not objective.

 

[Your Account]

As you mentioned , for example, slaughter of animals. Not to mention the harm people do to other people.
If you think about it,how can a place ,a planet, where such activities are done , be without evil?
World seems to be a place where a lot of evil stuff is happening so evil appears to be real and not subjective

 

[ObsoleteSoul]

Evil exists, but “pure” evil does not. Same as someone being purely good. We all wear masks, and underneath them lies falsities. Whether that breaks the notion of them being purely good or bad, that depends on the narrative they put forth to the world.

 

[KnightTemplar]

To be clear I am personally of the opinion that Hitler was evil. It's just not objective.

The only people who would disagree that Hitler was evil are neo-Nazis. And that's not subjective. At best it's stupidity and racism.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

The only people who would disagree that Hitler was evil are neo-Nazis. And that's not subjective. At best it's stupidity and racism.

It's based on how you define objective. Very little is actually objective in that sense. It's an opinion held by the vast majority of people and one that I certainly agree with but I don't see how it meets the definition of objective.

 

[KnightTemplar]

It's based on how you define objective. Very little is actually objective in that sense. It's an opinion held by the vast majority of people and one that I certainly agree with but I don't see how it meets the definition of objective.

Ordering the murder of millions of unarmed men, women and children, plus starting the most destructive(so far)war in human history, is evil. By any objective standard.

There is no objective position to argue the against that.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Ordering the murder of millions of unarmed men, women and children, plus starting the most destructive(so far)war in human history, is evil. By any objective standard.

There is no objective position to argue the against that.

It's still influenced by personal feelings or opinions. Ones I happen to share.

 

[KnightTemplar]

It's still influenced by personal feelings or opinions. Ones I happen to share.

Facts don't care about your feelings or opinions.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Facts don't care about your feelings or opinions.

But we're talking about something which is literally a feeling or opinion though lol

 

[KnightTemplar]

But we're talking about something which is literally a feeling or opinion though lol

Hitler was evil. That's not opinion, it's fact. There is no rational argument to be made against it.

 

[Morning Star]

Some things are objectively evil IMO. Gilles de Rais and Dahmer are 2 people that come to mind immediately. That being said some things people call evil are subjective.

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

If you've seen some of the stuff @lsa has done then you would believe in pure evil.

I regret nothing