Does "evil" exist"

[kentuck]

Or is it just a word originating in religious theories?

Is there such a thing as "evil" and how would you describe it?

Does it exist in people, places, or things?

Does it affect your life?

Does it affect your feelings and emotions?

How widespread is this "evil"?

[Blue Owl]

1. It wears orange makeup, hairspray, and sells bibles

[MustLoveBeagles]

13. Don't forget the girdle an high heels

[normalynn]

2. absence of empathy is definitive, and not as uncommon as I'd prefer (nt)

[Blue Full Moon]

39. Quote from GM Gilbert, chief psychologist

Who interviewed Nazis on trial at Nuremberg.
I told you once that I was searching for the nature of Evil. I think I've come close to defining it: a lack of empathy. It's the one characteristic that connects all the defendents. A genuine incapacity to feel with their fellow man. Evil, I think, is the absence of empathy.

It seems to be the shadow self that comes out to play. It connects others who also have their shadow self out.

[Coventina]

3. Yes, evil is selfishness. Selfishness is at the root of all bad behavior.

"EVIL" as in a direct opposite of good cannot exist.

Selfishness is what we describe in "evil" terms.

[jls4561]

4. Well said.

[kentuck]

6. Why cannot there be an opposite to "good"?

Could you explain?

[Coventina]

12. Sure: Imagine Satan, the Devil, Lucifer, whatever.

By the time you strip him of all possible "good" qualities:

intelligence, strength, cleverness, wit, charm,

What do you have left?

There cannot be a polar opposite of our construct of "good".

At least, not the way I'm thinking. Maybe someone else could frame it in a way I haven't thought of.

[Wiz Imp]

30. Um, "intelligence, strength, cleverness, wit, charm," are in no way automatically "good" qualities.

[Coventina]

37. Point taken, they can all be used to evil ends, but they are definitely not EVIL either.

My personal belief is that the true source of "Evil" as we tend to define it, all comes down to selfishness.

[NewHendoLib]

5. each person will have their own interpretation of your question.

I don't do "biblical" or religious evil. What I do believe is that some people are wired horribly wrong and do things that are counter to societal norms. Perhaps there is a "nature/nurture" element as well.

[FullySupportDems]

7. I think its unevolved to be evil

Or cruel. I see it as a lack of understanding, mostly of why it matters to not be evil. People can be strong, brave, tough and smart...and still be evil. We can only hope their spirits evolve. Someday. I think it probably hurts too.

[sinkingfeeling]

8. I'm an atheist, but I know evil exists in this world. There exists people who do horrible things to others, with

deliberation, like torture and murder. Some claim they are simply mentally ill, but I say they are evil.

[bucolic_frolic]

9. Evil is malevolence that is unprompted, unsought, or gratuitous

It is inhumane.

[OC375]

10. Evils only exists in humans

There are no evil animals, insects, microbes, rocks or trees. Whatever the nature of evils is, there would appear to be a human component needed to do anything. Also seems to be something you can't predict based on appearance, location, economic status or world view, and it seems to occur everywhere, and at all times in our history. As such, civilization and societal changes don't seem to matter as much as we might think.

Perhaps, evil is just the true actualization of self-centeredness by humans, just as love is the opposite?

[Irish_Dem]

11. As a clinician, I didn't use to believe in evil.

I was trained to look at behavior from an objective scientific perspective using
the diagnostic manual to make an assessment and diagnosis. It is science not religion.

But after decades as a therapist, I realized that there are people that go beyond any manual.
Any clinical criteria.

At some point a brutal, ruthless, cruel psychopath crosses a line into pure evil.

You know it when you see it. Your inner alarm bells begin to go off.
And your skin begins to crawl. The red lights of danger are flashing.

[mr715]

21. Do they recognize their own evil?

Say a psychopath feels nothing but the thrill of causing pain. Do they attempt to justify this by saying that, for them, it is worth it?

Does evil attempt to justify evil? How do they recognize it? Are their hierarchies in an evil mind?

As a side point -- I had a student that gave me chills. He was smart, cruel, and manipulative. We did a dissection and he made me very uncomfortable. I was convinced he was a psychopath. After he graduated from 8th grade, he returned and had a different manner entirely, apologized for being so much trouble and for being a "weird kid". Blew my mind how the vibes changed. Made me much more hesitant to trust my intuition as a teacher. But then again, psychopaths are masters of making masks.

[Irish_Dem]

22. Usually not.

Usually the people I talked with knew they were breaking laws/rules from an intellectual standpoint. But they did not feel these laws applied to them and they did not care
at all about the impact on others. They feel no empathy or guilt.
It is all about meeting their own needs for cruelty, revenge, money, power, control.

They see other people as objects, props, disposable items to be used and discarded.
Yes some psychopaths have boundaries in their own minds. Things they will not do.
Is that the question you are asking?

Hard to tell if the child you describe grew up and got on the right path.
Or was smoother now and using charm and deceit as he got older.

[mr715]

25. Yes, in re: boundaries

It is very interesting that phenomenon exists. If psychopathy is binary and not a spectrum of 'something', I'd expect there to be no switch between lies and manipulation from murder from torture. Just, as you say, acting on a object/prop.

I guess I knew the answer to my own question, but it is so weird. Like, hurting an animal is so deeply, viscerally evil to me. I can't imagine the mind of someone that would inflict pain for ... X Y Z

Regarding the kid, yeah, I don't know either way so I am going to assume the best because it'll make me happier and won't make a difference in any other respect. So, from my perspective, the kid grew up and he grew some empathy circuitry. Or pruned some impulse centers.

Very tough psychological, philosophical, theological, and clinical problem. Maybe the fundamental one of civilization.

My parents always taught me to be a good person first, but I'd like to believe I would be even if they didn't.

Wow, very challenging thread this.

[Irish_Dem]

26. I believe that good vs evil is the iconic human condition.

It is an ongoing issue, we see it play out across time and place, over and over.

That is what makes heaven a heavenly place.
There is no evil. A magic place, free from psychopaths.

Perhaps heaven does exist.
If not, we had to invent a place where goodness is the norm.
And we are always safe.

[Kid Berwyn]

14. "Money trumps peace." -- George W Bush

DU from 2007:

Know your BFEE: Scions of the Military Industrial Complex

https://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1766663

Some busted links, but the Internet Archive is still kicking.

[kentuck]

15. Greed...?

...is the root of all evil?

[Kid Berwyn]

17. Precisely. Who today remembers Curveball?

Curveball should mean strike three for Bush, Cheney, Powell, Rumsfeld, Tenet, et al.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x451875

It'd be better for everyone, living and dead, for the just to lock up the evil that creates war -- just to make a buck. Take Jeffrey Epstein...

Epstein helping pals make money off war…



How Jeffrey Epstein Helped Israel Establish A Police State In This Country The story began in late 2010, when a disputed presidential election in Cote d'Ivoire triggered violence.

Edited by: NDTV News Desk
Nov 16, 2025

Excerpt…

Ouattara's son met Epstein in New York. Three months later, Epstein met Ouattara's niece Nina Keita and then Barak privately at the Regency Hotel. Epstein later flew to Africa, planning stops in Cote d'Ivoire, Angola, and Senegal.

Barak has claimed his dealings with Epstein were private, but documents suggest Epstein acted as a fixer. After leaving office in March 2013, Barak continued negotiating the deal. On March 19, he received an email from his brother-in-law Doron Cohen with materials from MF Group outlining plans for a surveillance and video monitoring centre in Abidjan. Communications were kept secret using cryptic references.

Negotiations were briefly disrupted by a UN report on Israeli-labelled ammunition, and the embargo was extended. Barak then called Israeli security figures including Amos Malka and Michael “Micky” Federmann, and on May 27, Sidi Tiemoko Toure, Chief of Staff to Ouattara.

Using a “non-security” pretext of building hospitals, Barak arrived in Abidjan on August 1, 2013, meeting top officials and President Ouattara.

On September 16, 2013, Barak received a 13-page proposal from Aharon Ze'evi-Farkash detailing a SIGINT (Signals Intelligence) system for Cote d'Ivoire. Farkash wrote, “The document is based on experience that has been accumulated during Amnon's and my service in the unit… I believe this meets the ‘export‑of‑knowledge' test. I thought it appropriate to bring this to your attention.”

Continues…

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/how-jeffrey-epstein-helped-israel-establish-a-police-state-in-this-country-9645587

They are evil incarnate.

[doc03]

16. Didn't Epstein say Trump is evil, that says a lot. nt

[rampartd]

18. evil spelled backwards is "live"

the golden rule is common to every civilized religion.

eye for an eye is an alternative that leads, inexorably, to gaza

it started long ago in the garden of eden. ......
eve did not know good from evil until she ate the forbidden fruit of knowledge of good and evil

[3catwoman3]

35. The same 4 letters also spell vile.

For whatever that might be worth.

[AzTired64]

19. Does Evil exist

I had a conversation with a lady a few years about this very topic. She described evil as CEOs who earn millions or Corporate Lawyers who defend them. I told her I worked in the Az Prison system for 20 years and yes, evil does exist. I have seen prisoners who committed some very violent crimes( I worked Max/Death Row). The prisoners who set of my spidey sense had no soul, when you looked into their eyes. I just knew if the SHTF those prisoners would have no problems in inflicting severe torture for entertainment. That is evil.

[Haggard Celine]

32. That's what I wonder.

Do these people have souls or are their bodies inhabited by evil spirits? I believe that people are spirits who are briefly incarnate from time to time. I also believe evil exists. Some of these people, as you said, give you the sense that they have no souls as you look in their eyes. So I guess what I'm really wondering is if evil comes from the spirit or the flesh.

[mr715]

20. Very interesting question - ancient one.

As you know, the question of evil has been a thorn in philosophy and theology forever.

It necessitates questions of absolution and guilt, and suffering. Am I evil? Do I, by being unaware of own evil, make myself evil? Can one be evil and know it?

To directly respond to you with my reflections:

I think evil is aberrant and rare, but exists in an equilibrium in our population because of complex selective forces.

Evolution, red in tooth and claw, is certainly "evil" in some respects. It has no mercy for the maladapted and has invented some truly horrific and painful life strategies. At the same time, it lacks a consciousness and so I don't know if we can ascribe to it evil. However, the fact that evil-as-conscious-choice exists, and it is maintained by evolution.

Immanuel Kant has a relatively simple categorical definition of evil -- something that undermines the substrate it relies upon.

Lies, for example, are evil because they erode the assumptions of truth, which are necessary for lies to be advantageous.

Murder, adultery, greed can all be analyzed in a similar sort of way with Kant's imperative.

A lot of hemming and hawing from me to say I don't know. I think I know evil when I see it, and I hope I'm not evil. I can apply the evil label easily ex post facto to dictators and monsters like Hitler and Pol Pot and Stalin. However, I don't know what to do with that because I only know them by their acts, and not by their internal lives, which is where evil lives.

Do I think HUMAN evil is widespread? No. I think it can hide in the corners and do a lot of outsized harm, but I think most people are wired to be self-centered, but empathic. Apathetic but unwilling to actively hurt others.

In every day speech, I refer to Trump as evil. Upon reflection I don't know if he has the moral depth to actually be evil. He is just a husk.

But then again, if evil is the absence of moral character (and not the inverse of it), that certainly applies to much of the Republican party. If evil is an unwillingness to take moral stances, well, then evil is everywhere.

Thank you for the question. It is a tough one, a painful one, and an urgent one.

[Mysterian]

23. There are no gods

Evil is entirely a characterisitic of human beings, some moreso than others.

[canetoad]

24. Apart from the religious connotations

I'm not fond of the word 'evil'. It's become a terribly lazy and overused word these days; often used in place of much more fitting, accurate words.

Evil is something different to everyone but it seems that anything considered bad is now labelled 'evil'.

[TuxedoKat]

27. M. Scott Peck

Wrote a book about evil called “People of the Lie: The Hope for Healing Human Evil”: wish I could say something more profound but it’s been many years since I read it. But to answer your question off the top of my head, yes I think evil exists and is rooted in selfishness and greed.

[TuxedoKat]

28. M. Scott Peck

Wrote a book called, “People of the Lie: The Hope for Healing Human Evil”, it’s been many years since I read it, but maybe you might find it helpful.

[dalton99a]

29. You know it when you see it - and it must be destroyed - because it is innate, irredeemable, incessant

[haele]

31. Evil lives in that pit in the back of our brains.

It is the selfish hunger of that needs filling, needs adoration, needs vindication - needs to feel "safe".
If it requires manipulation of others, twisting relationships, hurting the defenseless, or just anticipation in watching blood of imaginary enemies pooling at one's feet to fill that hole - it doesn't matter.
It is the screaming hawk, the coiling snake, ripping pack of hyenas. Uncaring, merciless, red of tooth and claw.
The potential for evil is within all of us. And it is us that enables it to manifest if we let it.
As an outside force? No. Uncaring nature is not evil. Evil requires knowledge of potential for damage and intent to do an action that will cause hurt or harm.
Evil is not accidental.

[Oneironaut]

33. There are so many different definitions of evil.

“Evil” means different things to different people. For example, evil to some people just means “bad,” while to others, it’s a spiritual thing.

“Evil” is completely cultural. Were the Aztecs evil, for example, for sacrificing captives to the Gods? In a modern morality system, they were, even though they didn’t believe themselves to be evil.

Humans in general only survived because of cooperation. So, some acts we define as evil, such as killing each other, are probably just related to an innate desire to help each other survive by not doing those things, imo.

[Ferrets are Cool]

34. You made my brain work overtime. Do evil people think they are evil or do they just not recognize it.

Do they not recognize it in themselves or do they not recognize it in ANYONE?
Does tRump think he is evil. I think we can all agree that answer is NO. In fact, he sees ANYONE who opposes him as evil. Although, I suspect his use of this term is a catachresis.
So many questions.
And yes, evil has existed as long as mankind began thinking.

[iemanja]

36. It does, and it absolutely affects my life.

Evil is what underlay Trump's decision to invade Minneapolis, my city. People I know had to hide indoors for fear of ICE. I stayed home a lot myself.

Trump's assault on grants has undermined my job security.

And the MAGA pieces of shit on social media raise my blood pressure and poison my heart. They laugh at Aliya Rahman, Alex Pretti, and Rene Good. They are evil, and the child rapist they support is evil. If Trump isn't proof of evil, nothing is.

[hamsterjill]

38. The two wolves parody.

Inside you there are two wolves fighting. One is good and one is evil.

Which one will win?

The one you feed.